


Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and the Goblet of Fire

by m00n_river



Series: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Rewritten [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Death Eaters, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Fire Powers, Fluff, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Fourth Year, Ice Powers, Kissing, Legends, M/M, Magically Powerful Harry Potter, Not Canon Compliant, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, POV Alternating, POV Draco Malfoy, POV Harry Potter, POV Third Person, Powerful Draco Malfoy, Powerful Harry, Prophecy, Quidditch, Quidditch World Cup, Slytherin, Slytherin Harry Potter, The Deathly Hallows
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 30,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27577622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m00n_river/pseuds/m00n_river
Summary: HI!! We're finally here, I'm so excited. Here is a short and dramatic Prologue. I just wanted to pop in and say that I'm going to be taking a small hiatus, dw it won't be long, I just want to catch up on all the chapters I've been behind and maybe work on some other stuff of my own. I want this book to be as good as it can xxxxThanks so much for reading again you guys *big hugs*
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Rewritten [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847842
Comments: 98
Kudos: 159





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> HI!! We're finally here, I'm so excited. Here is a short and dramatic Prologue. I just wanted to pop in and say that I'm going to be taking a small hiatus, dw it won't be long, I just want to catch up on all the chapters I've been behind and maybe work on some other stuff of my own. I want this book to be as good as it can xxxx
> 
> Thanks so much for reading again you guys *big hugs*

Dumbledore summoned a glowing, misty orb and let it hover just in front of Draco and Harry’s illuminated faces. They were in awe. They could not look away and were unable to speak.

“Are you ready?” he asked, staring down at them intensely. They nodded in affirmative. “Very well. What you are about to hear isn’t going to change the course of history, as everything is preordained. But you are about to find out your fates. From this day forward, all we can offer you is support. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

The silence in the room was deafening. The orb seemed to emit silence like a force field. Around the boys stood Sirius and Remus, their headmaster, Professors Snape, McGonagall and Trelawney, who each looked as white as a sheet. 

Sirius placed a hand on Draco’s shoulder and squeezed. “It’s okay, son.” he whispered before retreating to stand next to his husband.

“Alright. Nobody speaks until the prophecy is done, understood?” Dumbledore watched as every head in the room nodded numbly and then turned his attention to the ball. He tapped it with his wand, and it began to speak with a calm voice, like water hitting the rocks on a beach.

_Hundreds of years ago, as Death greeted the Three Brothers, life greeted two children, one born of Ice, and the other of Fire. The child of Ice could bring a chill no mere mortal could survive, and the child of Fire brought the only force which could repel that cold._

_United, the pair could defeat any who stood in their path._

_Within years, the children of Fire and Ice ruled the land, and all who lived in it, including Life and Death, who had lost control of the lives of the children._

_Life could not persuade them to be kind. Death could not coax them into his undergrowth._

_So when would their rein be over?_

_Opposed they are the other’s end._

_Fire took the Resurrection Stone from the second brother._

_Ice took the Elder Wand from the first brother._

_With two of the three Hallows, Fire and Ice seemingly were invincible. That was, until a storm rolled over from the East, and a dark path was laid forward for the children. They followed it. And, at the end, they found themselves in their final battles, bringing devastation upon humanity, and their own ends._

_Since that fateful day when every living creature perished in the debris, Fire and Ice have only been reincarnated separately, for fear from the controllers of the universe that History Will Repeat Itself._

_When the two reunite, darkness will prevail, and the children of Fire and Ice will rule, this is the Word of the Prophecy, and the Warning of the Universe._


	2. Chapter One

The glow of the orb dimmed and Dumbledore banished it to a cabinet in the corner of his room. 

“I don’t understand.” said Draco. “What has that got to do with us?” 

Remus kneeled in front of his son and clasped both of his hands in his larger, warmer ones. Sirius did the same for Harry and they looked at each other. 

“You and Harry are the children mentioned in the prophecy, Star.” said Sirius sadly. 

Tears sprung into Draco’s eyes and clouded his vision. “W-What are you t-talking about?” he stammered. 

He reached for Harry’s hand and found it limp but in a shaking wait, his eyes were glued to the ground. 

“What does that mean though?” Harry asked, voice low and growly. 

Sirius tried to get his eyes to meet his own but they wouldn’t budge.

“It means,” Remus started to explain. “That you two have the power to control ice and fire respectively. You can learn to hone and control it-”

“Hold on, the Prophecy said that there isn’t supposed to be a child of Fire and a child of Ice alive at the same time, what’s going to happen?” Draco was trembling from head to toe. 

A usually snide voice from the corner spoke. “We don’t know.” it said, and Draco turned to see Snape stepping forward. “We wish we did.” 

“D-devastation?” Draco looked frantically into all the faces around him besides Harry’s, whose he carefully avoided. “DEVASTATION?” he screamed.

Everyone backed away from him suddenly and looked to the arms of his chair which had become coated with a thick ice. Draco jerked his hands away and glared at them in horror.

“We’re going to find a way around this, don’t worry.” Remus regained hold of his hands and kissed them. “We promise, we won’t let anyone hurt you or Harry.”

“You don’t have to.” Harry’s timid voice spoke up from beside Draco. He was so quiet, he repeated himself for everyone to hear. “You don’t have to protect us from anyone except each other. You heard it, we can destroy anything that gets in our path.”

Draco was beyond words. If the Prophecy was true, which it probably would turn out to be, both of them would die, and take down every living creature with them. 

“So what’s going to happen now?” he asked. “Are we just going to wait until the day we both kill each other? Is that what’s going to happen?”

“We’re going to figure something out. If you learn to control your powers, we may be able to find a way around the prophecy.” said Dumbledore, calmly.

“That’s hippogriff shit.” the blond spat.

“Draco!” Remus chided, but Sirius elbowed him softly and gave him a ‘let it go’ look. 

“I’m sorry, but a prophecy can’t be changed!” Draco had streaks of tears painting his cheeks now and was sobbing in between words. “We’re doomed! I love Harry and I’m going to have to kill him someday! And he’s going to have to kill me!”

“We may be able to find a loophole-”

“What loophole? I certainly didn’t hear one!” 

“Draco, please listen.” Remus begged. Draco noticed that his father too seemed to be crying, as did Sirius. Harry was remaining stoic, however, maintaining his glare at the ground. Draco attempted to control his breathing with painful, hiccupy breaths. “We have hope, okay? And Merlin knows we need it right now. I know it's scary, but we won’t let  _ anything _ hurt you or Harry, not even each other.”

“Are me and Harry going to have to be separated?” 

“We don’t know yet. Maybe. We’ll try to avoid that but if we must…” Remus trailed off and started petting Draco’s hands.

The boy turned and looked at Harry. For the first time in his life he understood real, passionate, true love. He was madly in love with Harry, and it was the most painful thing in the world. Remus had told him to have hope, and for Harry he would, but there was truly to way that he could see for this to end well. 

“Harry?” he asked, and the other boy responded with a lift of his head. Draco could see now that his emerald eyes were bloodshot and he looked tired. Now that he had his attention, Draco didn’t quite know what to say, but it seemed that he didn’t need to, because Harry squeezed his hand and offered a grimace, which he was clearly trying to turn into a smile. 

***

Draco and Harry had a depressing Summer. Now that they understood why they had to be separated, they were more desperate than ever to stay together, so the first three weeks were spent at Hogwarts with McGonagall, Sirius and Remus. 

They no longer slept in separate beds, even though they knew that they should start building walls now between them, rather than later. Draco had already started a little, and Harry was beginning to notice his boyfriend retreating into himself in the way that he tended to when he had something on his mind. Harry knew better than to push, so they enjoyed each other’s company in a lot of long silences. 

Harry had another outburst over the course of that three weeks. He was outside on the Quidditch pitch, trying to distract himself from the thoughts pounding in his brain when a sudden wash of inconceivable anger coursed through him and he lashed out, throwing a small ball of fire over towards the stands. Thankfully, he was never without a chaperone so the fire was quickly dealt with. 

Both of them occasionally cried themselves to sleep in each other’s arms, the only noises piercing the silent dorms would be their muffled sobs. But things were getting moderately better. Especially so when they both reached a similar revelation at the same time: that they had the dormitory all to themselves.

It was rather an embarrassing story from Harry’s perspective. As a teenager, he had begun to notice certain…  _ urges _ that came and went when he was with Draco, and when they had finally agreed on their official status as boyfriends, Harry had been excited to start exploring that side of things, but the excitement was short lived, what with the prophecy and all, so he set those urges aside. That was until, one particular morning when he had been having a delightful dream about treacle tart and someone whispering in his ear and soft lips brushing his own when he awoke to find himself with an uncomfortable problem. 

Draco had found it hilarious and cackled all the way through breakfast. It was nice, Harry supposed, that Draco was smiling for the first time in weeks, but he didn’t like that it was at his expense. But Draco apologised for it later, when he leaned over seemingly to grab the salt at dinner when he whispered “Meet me in our dorm after dinner?”.

Harry had blushed crimson. In hindsight, it was probably very obvious to everyone else at the table what was happening, and he sincerely hoped that Remus and Sirius hadn’t noticed.

But it all became a very distant and irrelevant thought when Draco had him pinned to the wall and was kissing him slowly, firmly and unhurriedly when they were in their dorm. Harry soon determined that kissing was an even more incredible thing than he had thought before.

“I know we haven’t done anything yet.” he murmured, lips brushing against Harry’s with every word. “But I thought that, with the dorm empty and everything, now would be a good time to figure things out?”

Harry couldn’t keep the elated grin from his face. “Yes, let's figure things out. Now.” 

Draco laughed. “Patience.” he whispered.

The blonde’s hands trailed up his chest and gripped his hair as they kissed. “Is that okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. Totally.” Harry couldn’t quite form very intelligent sentences when he was seeing Draco like this for the first time.

Draco lunged back in again and kissed him harder this time, more desperate, his mouth trailed from Harry’s lips to his neck and latched onto the skin there with a hungry passion. Harry moaned and arched his back when they both noticed a certain hardness just below their waists that became a little bit of an issue.

Draco retreated and giggled slightly. “Maybe we should stop now.” Harry noted that his boyfriend’s face was flushed and his hair was mussed and askew. He preferred it like that, when it was messy, it made Draco look so beautiful, Harry wasn’t even sure he was real. The dark green lighting of the room made the boy look unblemished and spotless, he was truly a thing of beauty. “What are you looking at?” Draco smirked.

“You.” Harry claimed, unabashadley. 

“What about me?”

“You’re just so beautiful. I love you so much.” 

Draco’s features softened and he seemed to blush, although Harry couldn’t quite tell from the lighting.

He sniffed and tossed his head back. “Sap.”

Harry laughed. “Yeah. But I’m your sap.”

“Urgh. Gross. Get out of here. I can’t believe I just kissed someone so…”

“Aww, you love me.”

“Do not.”   


“Do to.”

“Do not.”

“Do to.”

“Fine. I love you too.”

“Love you.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all I'm tired I wasn't even planning on writing them kissing it just happened. 
> 
> How are you guys? Did you enjoy the little bit of teenage experimentation in amongst all the angst? 
> 
> PS if you do see any typos, I will not be offended if you tell me because I wrote this just now and I should be doing homework so I am not in my right mind.


	3. Chapter Two

“Remus, I’m worried.” Sirius concluded once Draco and Harry had left the breakfast table. He had seen the small mark underneath his best friend’s son’s collar and it had made him uneasy.

“Dear Wizarding Lord, you’re only  _ now _ starting to get worried?” Remus murmured from behind his newspaper. 

“Well of course I’m worried.” He leaned across the table and snatched the Daily Prophet from his husband’s hands. “Did you not see our son and his boyfriend just now?” 

Remus met his eyes and sighed with an amused smirk. “Pads, honey, I think we’ve got bigger things to be worrying about than our son’s sex life.” 

“On the contrary, I think that this is just as, if not more important than the Prophecy. We’ve been dealing with that baby for fourteen years! Because that’s how old our son is! And he’s giving people hickeys.”

“Were you really any different at that age? Did you not give Marlene a love bite that one Christmas when James said that he didn’t think you had the balls?” 

Sirius growled at his husband and relaxed back into his seat. “It’s different when it's our son.” 

“He’s a teenager, this was bound to happen at some point. I’m just glad it's a kid we trust.”

“I don’t trust him.”   


“What?”

“I don’t trust him.” Sirius repeated, shaking his head and glaring at his eggs. He knew he was being irrational, but another side of his brain reminded him of James Potter at age fourteen, running after Lily like a lovesick puppy, but never forgetting to break a few girls hearts along the way. 

“Come on. It’s Harry, we know Harry. He isn’t going to hurt him… at least… not in that way… “ Remus shook his head and cleared away the thought. “Have you seen the way he looks at Draco? It’s funny, really.”

“I don’t care, I think he had malicious intentions.”

“ _ Malicious intentions? _ Do you hear yourself?” Remus placed down his cup with unnecessary force and barked out an incredulous laugh. “Tell you who I’m worried about getting hurt: Harry. I mean, Draco has been taught by the best heartbreaker I know. You.” 

“Me?” 

“Yeah! I hate to bring up Marlene again but-”

“You don’t have to bring up Marlene again.”

“Sirius, if you’re really so worried about it, give Harry the talk.” Remus took a sip of his tea as he surveyed his husband, who seemed to be pondering the suggestion.

“Yeah, you know what? I will.” he declared.

“Wonderful.”   


“But you have to give Draco a talk too.” 

“What?” 

“You know… the bird and the bees - is that the Muggle expression?” 

“I’m not giving Draco the sex talk.”

“You have to, I'm certainly not gonna do it.” Sirius was already halfway out of his seat.

“Why not?”

“I lack a basic understanding of the biological side of things, Hogwarts never provided a course on sex ed.”

“Merlin help me.” 

Sirius was halfway out the door. “Good luck, babe.”

Remus rolled his eyes, he hated when Sirius called him that. “Screw you.”

“Of course, later though.” the man called back, grinning cheekily. 

***

Sirius sat down in front of Harry and tried to put on his best ‘don’t test me’ face, but from Harry’s small grin he could tell it wasn’t working. He had yanked him out of Draco’s grasp finally, and taken him to an abandoned classroom to have the conversation, and in the forefront of his mind he was going over the list of things he had intended to say.

“Harry.”

“Sirius.”   


“You may call me Mr Lupin-Black… or Sir.”   


“Why?”

“Because this is a serious conversation.”

“Okay, Mr Lupin-Black.” 

Sirius surveyed Harry’s face, it wasn’t mocking… yet. 

“I wanted to have a sit down with you because I have something important to say.”

“Okay…” 

He cleared his throat. “So what are your intentions with Draco?” He had learned this line from a movie Remus had made him watch years ago. 

Harry seemed thrown for a loop. “Well, I intend to love him, I suppose.” 

Sirius pinched his features and glared at the fourteen year old. “Is that all? Would you care to explain the mark on your neck then?” 

The boy blushed such a bright red that he almost resembled a plant Sirius once saw in a Herbology lesson. He stuttered so much that he could barely get the words out. “W-well, umm, Sir, I… umm.” Harry cleared his throat and stared at the floor. Sirius was finding it rather hilarious, and almost felt bad. “I think y-you might want to ask D-Draco about that one…” 

Sirius’s face darkened with the image. “How dare you.”

Harry flared up in humiliation. “I-I’m sorry! Please, sir, trust me, I have only pure intentions towards your son!”

“How do I know you won’t break his heart?”

“Because even though I know that our relationship will one day end up in flames, I want to stay by his side through all of it.” Harry took deep breaths and searched Sirius’s face for some flicker of relaxation. “I love him, Sir, so much, and I would let myself die before I ever let anything happen to him.”

“You're fourteen, you can’t say things like that.”   


“But it’s true! Please, Sir, if I ever hurt him, you have my full permission to cast me out into the streets, or back to the Dursleys.” 

Sirius mulled over the boy’s words and he had to admit, he saw some truth in them. Of course, no one could ever be good enough for his son, but the supposed Saviour of the Wizarding World seemed pretty damn close. 

“Fine.” Harry sighed and relaxed in his chair. “But if you  _ ever _ do  _ anything _ . I will ruin your life, do you understand that? I don’t even care if you are my godson, I will make sure that you feel that guilt for the rest of your life, got it?” Harry nodded dutifully, eyes wide. “Good. You can go now.” And it seemed that Harry couldn’t escape fast enough.

***

“Okay.” Remus started, looking awkward and confused. “This is going to be really difficult for me to say, but your father and I have designated duties that we must fulfill.” He cleared his throat. “Alright, Draco, do you know what sex is?”

Draco’s face burst into flames. “Dad!”

“I know!” Remus yelled, pushing his hands out in revulsion. “I’m sorry! But I have to!”

“Why?”

“Pads was feeling weird about you and Harry sharing a room!”

“ _ That’s _ the part he’s feeling weird about? Not the whole death prophecy thing?”

“I know, I didn’t understand it either. He’s off interrogating Harry now.”

“Interrogating? What’s he doing?”

“I think he’s having his fun with the ‘protective father’ act.”   


Draco buried his face in his hands and groaned. “Oh Merlin.”

“I’m really sorry, but you must have seen this coming.”

Draco sat up and waved his hands around in front of him, as if clearing the air. “Just get it over with. Say what you need to say.”

Remus shuffled. “Okay… so… you know where babies come from, right?” Draco grimaced and nodded. “So you know that’s when a man and a woman… you know. You get it.” 

“I don’t think we need to focus on heterosexual sex, dad.”   


Remus felt like he’d just been slapped, but shook himself back to reality. “Right. Okay. So… gay sex then?” Draco nodded, the grimace seemingly a permanent expression on his face. “So you know gay men take it up the arse, right?” 

Draco shrieked. “DAD!” 

“WHAT DID I DO WRONG?”

“YOU CAN’T JUST COME OUT AND SAY IT LIKE THAT!”   


“HOW ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY IT?”

“PERHAPS BE A LITTLE LESS BLUNT?”

Remus sighed and winced at the situation. “This is all very weird for me.”

“Me too.”

“Okay… so what  _ do _ you know?”

“Probably more than you want me to.” 

Remus let out what sounded like a bit of a sob. “What am I supposed to say?”

Draco huffed and sat up, taking his father’s hands into his own. “This is all very strange, and trust me, I’m trying as hard as you are here, but I’m going to try to put a final end to this conversation.” Remus nodded and stared at his son, who was gnawing on his lower lip with intense concentration. “Both of us have always been quite… rational people? I’d say, in comparison to Harry and Sirius, definitely, which is why I want to speak to you… at your level. As an adult.” He took a deep breath. “This is all very scary for me, as scary as it is for you, I’d imagine, but Harry isn’t pressuring me into anything. We are going at a very slow speed, especially seeing as we are still quite young, I see no reason to rush, and I don’t want to. We haven’t really gotten to the point where we need to yet, not even close actually, but I promise that whatever we do, we’ll be safe, we will only do it if we feel safe, emotionally and physically. I understand that you and dad are worried, but you have nothing to be scared of with Harry, he’s James and Lily’s son, he’s one of the good ones.”

“Are you sure that you’re feeling safe?”

“Completely.”   


“And you know that you can come to me with anything that you need to talk about?” 

“Yeah, I know that.” Draco paused and looked down at his hands. “Although I’m not really looking forward to another one of these conversations.” 

Remus winced. “Yeah, neither am I.” 

Draco grinned. “Love you, dad.”   


“Love you too, kiddo.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell you what, I had a lot of fun with this one.


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for leaving to waiting! How is everyone?
> 
> Christmas is coming up? Are you guys doing anything special? We can't see my grandparents which is annoying because we do it every year but I think its going to be a good Christmas anyway. 
> 
> Love ya x

“Sirius.” Remus said as the group sat down for dinner. 

“Yes, love.” his husband replied.

“I believe you have something to say to Harry.” The boy tensed in his seat and shared a scared look with Draco, who glared at his dad.

“Yeah, dad, I think you do.” he prodded. 

Sirius put on an innocent face of cluelessness. “No. I don’t think so.” 

“Come on, Pads, you promised me.” Remus pleaded. 

Sirius grumbled. “Fine.” He turned to Harry. “I’m sorry for being so harsh, Harry.” 

Harry stiffened even more. “It’s okay, sir.” 

“Since when do you call my dad  _ sir _ ?” Draco squawked. 

“S-since he told me to.” The raven haired boy looked quite frightened so Draco clasped his hand. 

“Pads!” Remus exclaimed. “You had him call you  _ sir _ ?” 

“...Yeah.” 

“You have to apologise properly, Pads. You frightened the kid half to death!”

Sirius sighed and suddenly turned sincere. He turned once more to his godson. “I really am sorry, Harry. I was being dramatic and overprotective and I forgot that you’re a very kid and I’m very lucky that you’re in my life now.”

Harry softened. “It’s okay.”   


“And you can call me whatever you want. Pads, Sirius. I’m your godfather, after all.”

A small smile quirked Harry’s lip. “Thanks, Pads.”

“Are we okay now?” Remus asked after a moment of comfortable quiet. 

Harry nodded gladly and Draco squeezed his leg. He hazarded a glance at his father, who looked supremely ashamed of himself. 

“Good.” Moon concluded. “Now, I actually have some news for you boys.”

As everyone dug into their dinner, they watched Remus attentively. 

“We aren’t supposed to tell people, but we have all decided that, all things considered, you two should be involved in every big decision that is made.” He paused to take a bite of chicken, the full moon was approaching so his taste for meat was heightened. “You must promise, however, not to tell any of your friends. Not the Weasleys, not Hermione, or any of the Slytherins. Don’t tell anyone, promise?” Draco and Harry nodded. quickly. “This year, Hogwarts is going to be hosting the Triwizard Tournament.”

“WHAT?” Draco screeched. His face burned with rage. 

“What’s the Triwizard Tournament?” asked Harry. 

Sirius’s eyebrows furrowed. “It’s this competition that three of the schools in the Wizarding World compete in. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are coming to Hogwarts to play. It basically involves a champion being chosen, one from each school, who will partake in three challenges and then will be marked and then a winner will be chosen. The winner gets the Triwizard Cup, 1000 Galleons and ‘eternal glory’.”

“That sounds dangerous.” Harry mumbled.

“It is.” Draco snapped, freezing his fork in his hand and snapping it, seemingly unconsciously. “It’s barbaric. Who the hell thought this was a good idea? I bet it was-”   


“Dumbledore? Well, he wasn’t against it.” Remus’s upper lip quirked in disgust. “I was. Both me and your father were. This is the last thing Hogwarts needs right now. There is… we don’t even know what's out there but we know what's in here and that is two young boys who have the power to destroy the world who are learning to control their powers. We can't put hundreds of other students in danger by bringing them to the school.”

Draco shook his head angrily. “I didn’t even think of that. We’re going to have to be extra careful, aren’t we?”

“Well,” Sirius began. “you would have had to have been careful anyway, this is just putting more people than necessary in danger. Not to mention the fact that the tournament is dangerous as it is.”

“How dangerous is it? What do the challenges involve?” Harry asked., searching the eyes of his godfather and his husband. 

Sirius rubbed his temple, he had completely neglected his meal, and Draco was only prodding at his. Remus was devouring meat at the same pace that he was before, but was enraptured by the conversation taking place before him.

“Lets just say that this is the first time the Tournament has been successfully revived in years for a reason.” said Sirius darkly. 

“How old do you have to be to enter?” Harry asked.

Draco’s head whipped around to glare at him. “Don’t you even dare think about entering, Harry James Potter, you have faced death too many times.”

“It’s okay, Draco. Harry’s too young anyway. You have to be seventeen.” 

Draco visibly deflated. “Thank Merlin.” he breathed. “So when will this be announced?”

“At the Welcoming Feast, I reckon.” Sirius returned to his food.

“And do you have any idea who’s filling in for you, Moony?” 

Remus tilted his head up. “Dumbledore was thinking about Moody, right, Pads?”

“Yeah, I think so. That would be good, he’s a bit of an oddball, Mad-Eye, but he knows what he’s talking about.”

Harry didn’t know who Moody was and he frankly didn’t quite care enough to tune into the conversation, so he zoned out, his mind flooded with images of himself, hoisting the Triwizard Cup into the air for everyone to see, Draco’s face alit with pride, and the entire school chanting his name and cheering. It was that thought which lulled him to sleep later that evening after he and Draco had made out for a while and had abruptly stopped themselves before things got too heated. He needed a distraction from his rather uncomfortable h*rd on and the image provided him with a nice distraction. But  _ oh _ how he longed for it to be real. After so many years of facing death and repeatedly escaping through sheer dumb luck made him want to prove to everyone that he was actually worth their faith. 

He watched his boyfriend breathe in and out. He didn’t want to hurt Draco. And, realistically, Draco would be incredible in the Tournament. especially seeing as he seemed to have much better control over his powers. Controlling fire wasn’t something that Harry could practise in his dorm like Draco did, and he didn’t want to put himself in unnecessary danger by going outside, but that rarely stopped him. So, at four am that night, he carefully slipped out from under Draco’s arm and wrapped himself in the invisibility cloak that he kept in his special box from Draco, and crept through the halls, out of the castle, until he reached the Quidditch Pitch, where he would practise for a few hours before returning to bed. 

First, he conjured a small ball of flame in the palm of his hand, and rejoiced in the small, warm, comforting feeling it created in his chest. But then it started sparking and fizzling and looking like it was going to explode so he extinguished it. 

Next, he tried to set three of his fingers on fire. Over the course of a few weeks of practise, he had worked himself up to two, but he was getting stuck on the third.

He growled and flicked his fingers once more. It seemed to work best when he mimicked using a fire starter with his fingers, almost like the friction was actually creating a flame. 

A small, dark orange glow emitted from his ring finger. 

“That’s right, come on.” he grinned. The glow grew stronger and darkened. “Yes, go on, go on.” he chanted. And suddenly the third finger sparked into a decent sized flame, joining the previous two. Harry admired his work with pride and gazed around him at the court. He shut his eyes and smiled. Perhaps his future was looking bleak, but the wielding of such power gave him immeasurable joy. But, as he opened his eyes, he saw a flicker of a different scene in front of him. A scene of Quidditch Stands engulfed in flames and packed with screaming people, a guiding star with platinum blonde hair gazing at him with admiration and  _ love _ . And the roaring of accomplishment burning his ears. Just as soon as it came, however, the vision faded and he hurriedly extinguished the fire. 

When he returned to his bed not long after, he was now plagued with a separate vision. One of pain and fury and fire, which he felt a deep fascination with, rather than a fear for. 

He watched his boyfriend, a cool angel, a guiding star which shone through the thick mist of ash he often found himself trying to clear from his vision. 

The last thing Harry remembered doing before falling asleep was kissing Draco’s forehead and admiring the small strand that fell in his face and wondering how long he could enjoy him for the predestined caught up with them. 


	5. Chapter Four

Sirius couldn’t keep his excited grin down during breakfast, so shovelled scrambled eggs down his throat like a starving man, which caused Draco to give him a very odd look. 

“You alright, dad?” the boy asked. Remus elbowed Sirius in the side.

“I’m fine, kiddo. Eat your breakfast.” 

Once everyone was finished eating, Remus cleared his throat for everyone’s attention and seemed to be fighting down a smile as well. 

“Sirius and I have an announcement.” he began, looking over at his husband, who was practically leaping out of his seat. He sighed fondly. “Do you want to tell them, honey?” 

Sirius squealed and turned to the boys. “We’re going to the Quidditch World Cup!” he exclaimed and joined the boys as they jumped out of their chairs to scream excitedly.

“No way!” shouted Draco. 

“And that’s not even the best part, we have amazing seats!” 

“Where are they?”

“Pretty high up!” He excitedly reached into his pocket to pull out their tickets. “The Weasleys are sitting in the top box with the Minister, lucky sods, but we’re just below.”

“Wow.” Harry murmured in awe. “I’ve been researching the World Cup this year, it sounds amazing.”

“I know.” Draco smiled. “Ireland vs. Bulgaria? That’s going to be brutal. And we get to see Viktor Krum in person.” Harry thought for a second he saw a faint swoon on his boyfriend’s face, but it faded just as quickly as it came. The small, fiery jealousy monster in his stomach flared. 

“I know, I’m so excited!” Sirius seemed to swoon as well, but Remus was quick to kick him under the table. 

“Careful, you’re married!” he squawked. He thought about it for a moment. “ _ And _ the kid’s still in school!”

“I’m not swooning over his face! You know you’re the only one for me, Moony!” The fully grown man dramatically swooped low to sit next to his husband and pat his hair. “Plus his super ugly… he’s just a very good Quidditch player.”

“Can you two save your flirting until Harry and I have left?” Draco smirked. “I mean, we extend that courtesy to you two  _ at least _ .” 

Remus raised an eyebrow and smiled. “We’re leaving in two days and we have to catch a very early Portkey, so we’re going to bed really early on Sunday. Go upstairs and start packing.”

They started to leave when Draco called back. “I’m broke, can you guys lend us money to by stupid trinkets and shit?”

“’Course.” Sirius yelled back.

“Love ya.”

“Because I’m lending you money?”

“Pretty much.”

“Piss off.”

***

“Alright. Have fun.” 

“Can’t you come with us, Minnie?” Sirius whined.

“I didn’t buy a ticket, Mr Lupin-Black.” The Professor shoved her former student further out the door. “Maybe next time?”   


“I’ll hold you to that.”   


“Go, you’re going to be late!”

And he almost was. When Sirius got to his family, who were standing around an old Muggle plastic bottle, which was labelled ‘Coca-Cola’ in bright text, he was seconds away from missing the Portkey’s departure. 

“Merlin, Sirius, did you have to take that last minute to stay behind and flirt with Minerva?” Remus chided. 

Sirius was panting like a dog. “The woman deserves all that I give her and more, she’s a saint.”

“You’re right there, we don’t deserve Minerva McGonagall.”   


“Too right.” and “Very true.” were what Draco and Harry respectively chanted at that sentiment, but were interrupted by an unpleasant tugging feeling on their stomachs which shocked the boys so much that they toppled onto the ground unceremoniously, while Remus and Sirius delicately floated downwards like swans.

“How did you do that?” Draco asked incredulously, laughing at his undignified position.

“Practice, you’ll get there someday.” 

The boys got up and brushed themselves off, to see before them another long trek.

“How much more walking is there?”

Remus huffed. “You all think that flying is the only form of travel.”

“That’s not true.” Draco piped up as they began to walk down the hill they were on top of. “I also think that flying motorbike and train are dignified forms of transportation.”

“Well, walking is also dignified.”   


“Not in this mud.”

Sirius stumbled momentarily. “He’s right, Moony, it is quite muddy.”

“Alright, children.” said Remus sarcastically. “We’re nearly there.” He pointed towards a wooden stall, which inside held a man dressed in very bland and boring clothes. 

“Hello there!” Remus called. 

“Hello!” the man returned, putting down his magazine about cars. 

“Any chance you’re Mr Summers?” 

“Aye sir, tha’s me. What can I do for ye?” The man sniffed and adjusted his clothes, which, now that Draco looked, were very different to the clothes that he  _ thought _ Muggles wore. He supposed that he had made the right decision in the end, to trust Remus and Harry when they said they know what they were talking about, but he had doubted the authenticity of their words when they introduced him to a regular Muggle coat, which very much differed from cloaks, and seemed to do a better job at doing what a cloak was meant to do. It seemed to him that Muggles couldn’t come up with something so ingenious without the help of magic, but he was evidently wrong, for Mr Summers was sporting one. 

“Remus Lupin-Black, I booked a tent a few days ago?” 

Mr Summers consulted a book he had on his desk, which had inscribed upon it a list of names. Draco was again confused. Why did Hogwarts force the students to use scrolls of parchment when they could very easily head into Muggle London and buy blank books for their students to write in. He was also confused by the lack of a pot of in and a quill on Mr Summers’ desk. Instead the man produced a small device, which looked like a very small wand, and clicked the end of it to expose a nib, which in itself made marks on the parchment without the assistance of a pot of ink. 

_ How ridiculous! _ he exclaimed to himself. How much more convenient it seemed than having to haul around ridiculous feathers and ink pots and rolls of parchment to every lesson. 

When Moony had finished up his business with Mr Summers, he led the group through a gate to the campsite. 

“Harry? Remus?” said Draco. 

“Yes?” they both answered in unison.

“Why does Hogwarts insist on us using ink and quills and scrolls when we could be using notebooks and… what’s that thing called that Mr Summers was using?”

“A pen.” Harry answered.

“A pen! Why can’t we use pens instead? They seem so much more convenient!” Draco exclaimed.

Remus’s brow furrowed. “I don’t actually know.” he said, seemingly confused at his never having thought about it before. “They’re cheap as chips, much cheaper than quill and ink, as are notebooks… why haven’t I thought of that before?”

“Probably just another inexplicable move from Dumbledore that we mortals cannot explain.” Harry sarcastically commented, to Sirius’s answering cackle. 

“Probably.” he mused in between chuckles. “He’s the kind of person who would choose aesthetics over function. And he probably wants to make schooling as unnecessarily complicated as possible.”   


“Here we are!” Remus announced, and the group looked towards a small plot of land with a singular, small tent pitched in the middle. “The guys at the Ministry offered to set it up before we got here, isn’t that nice?”

“Yes, so lovely for young, homosexual wizards who have a crush on my husband to try and impress him by setting up a tent for his  _ family _ , maybe we should send them a gift?” Sirius snarkily muttered.

“Shut up.”

“Remus?” Harry asked.

“Yeah.”

“Isn’t that a bit small for four of us?” 

Remus gave Draco a look and nodded towards the tent.

“C’mon, follow me.” he grabbed Harry’s hand and tugged him into the tent, where the boy gasped at the deceiving size.

“It’s huge!” he squawked, craning his neck to gape at the ceiling, which was higher even than at Hogwarts. He looked around him, jaw slack. The room was comfortable and cosy, with worn leather sofas and artwork on the walls. 

“And we get our own room!” said Draco, grinning at the adorable expression on Harry’s face.

“You’re joking.”

“Follow me.” Draco ran through a nearby door, which led to a decent sized room with two single beds and a fireplace. 

“Wouldn’t the place go up in flames if we lit the fire?” Harry asked, observing the oddness of having a fireplace in a tent. He had noticed another in the main sitting room.

“Nah, we protected our tent didn’t we? We literally have a loose cannon who may just set random things on fire at any given moment living under our roof, isn’t that right?” 

Harry smirked and fondly rolled his eyes.

“You alright, boy?” Remus poked his head around the door. 

“We’re fine, dad.”

Harry approached Remus hesitantly and looked into his face shyly. “I wanted to say thank you. This is really amazing, and you didn’t have to bring me.”   


Remus’s eyes softened as he stared at the boy. “Harry. You’re family. Of course we were going to bring you.” Harry blushed and looked at his feet. Remus smiled. “Also Draco would have thrown as hissy if we hadn’t brought you.”

Draco made an indignant sound. “How dare you?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might not post another chapter until after Christmas so Merry Christmas to those that celebrate it! To everyone else, Happy Holidays! I hope everyone is making the most of it in these trying times ❤️❄️🎁


	6. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I probably wasn't going to update until after Christmas but I sat down today and then this came out. It's not very big as regards to the overall plot but it's cute and heart warming, so enjoy! :)

Draco and Harry spent longer than they probably should have looking at the vast array of merchandise available on the campsite, but eventually settled on each getting a pair of omnioculars and an Ireland rosette. Draco also seemed tempted to buy himself a miniature figure of Viktor Krum but Harry flushed bright red in indignant anger and Draco felt as though it was a bad idea. 

“You know I agree with my dad.” Draco idly commented as they walked away from the stall.

“About what?”

“Viktor Krum is an ugly bastard.” The blond linked his arm with his boyfriend and fondly ruffled his hair. “I think my boyfriend is much better looking… and a better Seeker.” 

Harry scoffed and blushed. “I’m not a better Seeker than Viktor Krum.”

“I think you are. Or at least you will be with practise.” 

Draco saw out of the corner of his eye a glimpse of bushy hair and a flash of bright red. He turned and spotted the Weasley clan and Hermione Granger walking into a tent.

“Harry! Ron and Hermione are here!” he exclaimed. 

Harry turned. “Are they?” 

“Let’s go see them.” Harry seemed unsure. “Will you stop being a jealous idiot? I don’t like Viktor Krum, I don’t like  _ Gilderoy Lockhart _ , and I don’t like Hermione Granger!” He huffed and tried to remain serious as the corner of his mouth quirked. “I like  _ you _ . Not only that, I  _ love _ you. That means something in my book, so shut up and let's go talk to our friends.” 

Hermione and Ron were very pleased to see their friends, and the Weasley clan were just as welcoming as they were the previous year at Harry’s birthday party.

“How are you two?” Hermione asked as they sat down. 

Draco and Harry shred a look, they weren’t supposed to tell any of their friends about many of the things that had happened to them.

“We’re fine. Very happy to be here.” Draco spoke for both of them.

“We heard about what happened with Lucius.” said Hermione. “At least, some of it. We don’t know the whole story.”

Harry grimaced and Draco held his hand. “We’ll tell you the whole story some other time.”

Ron shuffled closer with piqued interest. “What happened to Lucius? We heard he escaped.”

Draco remembered being told about what happened to his father after he gave him a chance to live. He had been trying to forget it, mostly because the details were ambiguous. It seemed as though the Dementors had caught up with him, although there was no proof of it. A part of Draco dearly hoped that they didn’t, but he stifled it quickly with the thought of all the horrible things the man had done.

“He’s gone. We think.” said the boy in a low voice. Ron seemed to sense that he had hit a nerve and backed off. 

“Sorry. I always forget that he is technically your birth father.”   


Draco tried to smile but he could feel that it didn’t reach his eyes. “That makes no difference to me. I just want a criminal to get the punishment that he deserves, the fact that I share his DNA makes no difference.”

Arthur Weasley suddenly appeared at his shoulder and patted it comfortingly. “You’re a good person, Draco, even if you have a bad person in your DNA.”

“While that is true, I have been raised by the two kindest people on Earth. That must count for something.” Harry squeezed his hand. Hermione eyed it with a sly smile. Draco gave her a playful ‘we’ll talk about it later’ wink. 

“Where are Sirius and Remus, anyway?” Arthur asked. 

“We left them at the tent but they said they’d catch up.” said Harry. 

Arthur got up and looked out the flap of the tent. “Oh that’s right, I see them.” He raised his hand in greeting. “Hello!”

The couple entered grinning. “Arthur! It’s so good to see you!” said Remus, shaking the man’s hand.

“Good to see you too!” 

“Shall I set up a fire?” 

The group sat around the fireplace and chatted.

“You know, we were talking to Bagman and Crouch.” Sirius mused at a dip in the conversation.

“Just now?” Arthur asked.

“Yeah. Very odd men. I noticed Percy was with them, he seems happy in his new job.” Sirius began toasting a fourth marshmallow.

Arthur huffed. “He is, yes. We barely see him these days, he’s always taking on some extra project or something.”

“What kind of projects?”

But before Arthur could answer, he and everyone else became distracted by the mischievous grins and shifty smiles on Fred and Gearge’s faces.

“What are you two up to?” asked Arthur exasperatedly. 

Fred put up his mask of innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, father. However I might want to ask where we might be able to find Mr Bagman?”

“Ludo? What do you want with him?” 

“Nothing.” they both answered in unison. 

Arthur sighed and looked at his watch. “We’re about to head off to the main event, you’ll see him there.”

“Great.” George said with an air of finality. The twins began to walk to the stadium and were followed at a distance by the rest of the Weasley clan, the Lupin-Blacks and Hermione.

“I’m suspicious of those boys.” Arthur confessed to Remus and Sirius. “They didn’t buy any merchandise at the stall, even though they claimed to have been saving up for weeks, and now they’re off looking for Ludo. You know what they can get up to.”   


Remus consoled Arthur with some easy lies about the twin’s responsibility as Sirius lost interest in the conversation. 

Hermione and Draco walked in a separate pair, away from Harry and Ron, who were engaged in a loud conversation about the upcoming match with Seamus and Dean, who had joined their party. 

“So…” Hermione began with a sly edge.

Draco smirked. “So…” he repeated.

“What’s going on with you and Harry?” she asked.

Draco flushed. “We’re… dating? Is that how I should phrase it?”

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

The bushy haired girl squealed excitedly. “When did this happen?”

“Officially? At the beginning of the holidays. But realistically nothing has changed from the way we were before.” Draco’s face was aflame. He didn’t know how people in relationships spoke about it so casually.

“I saw that kiss he gave you on the Quidditch field in second year. I thought you were dating then but I didn’t say anything.” 

“We were too young to be thinking about things like that. We still are.”   


Hermione watched him carefully. “What changed?”

Draco looked down at his shoes. Everything had changed. Of course, he and Harry made their relationship official before they knew that their lives would likely be cut off short, but the night before made Draco realise that while he may not be emotionally mature enough to handle a proper, adult relationship, neither was Harry, and it didn’t matter. There were much bigger things to worry about, and he shouldn't've been wasting his time not taking his relationship with Harry seriously.

“Life.” he huffed. Hermione nodded her head as though she could even fathom the lengths to which the word ‘life’ stretched. 

“I understand that. I think I’m ready for something serious.”

“Yeah?” 

“Well, I always thought that maybe Ron liked me but I think he just sees me as a friend. It might be ice to finally let that ship set sail and move on to something else.”

Draco smiled thoughtfully and remembered how Pansy had spoken about Hermione once. “Have you ever thought that ‘something else’ could be a girl?”

Hermione glowed bright red. “N-no?” she stammered. “Maybe I should.”

“You never know until you try. But don’t force yourself to do anything you’re not comfortable with, I just know a girl or two who would be interested in some experimentation with a smart, pretty girl like you.” He knew he was pushing Hermione’s buttons, and it was quite funny, she seemed to be pleasantly surprised by his suggestion, but the conversation didn’t continue for the stadium was ahead of them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw romione is still very much on the table, i'm just going to have some fun with hermione because i love her and i want to


	7. Chapter Six

The Quidditch match was marvellous. The players darted so quickly around the pitch that Harry had to watch it in slow motion before Draco reminded him that he was missing most of the game. 

The omnioculars were incredible but he was especially glad that Draco had had the forethought to bring his camera because, although the shots of the players were blurry, they captured some amazing ones of them enjoying the game, and later a group shot with the Weasley’s and Hermione. 

The whole night was a bit blurry really but a few parts stuck in his memory. 

For example, when the Veelas took to the pitch and performed a dance, and Harry found his mind blissfully blank as he gazed in awe at the creatures. The most beautiful women he had ever seen. Suddenly it seemed rather irrelevant that he was attracted to men, because the Veelas sort of defied gender. He was filled with the dramatic urge to fling himself off the stand and at their feet to profess his undying affection for them, when he felt a hard slap on his shoulder and turned to see his boyfriend with a mutinous glare on his face. It was then that Harry realised that he had one leg flung up over the barrier, seemingly he had been mid-fling. 

Harry sat back down with a sheepish smile.

“Love you.” he offered guiltily. 

Draco continued to grumble until Ireland’s mascots came to perform. Harry glanced at Sirius and Remus, who were sitting back with very amused grins on their faces.

“How come none of you were affected?” Harry asked.

Remus smiled. “I don’t know, Harry. But Veelas have that effect on some people, don’t feel guilty about it.”

Harry returned his gaze to the Veelas, who had stopped dancing and were returning to the stands. He wondered at the familiarity of the feeling he had just been overcome with, but he couldn’t quite place why he knew it. 

The leprechauns from Ireland had been amazing, although it was severely disappointing when the gold vanished. 

The real match was obviously the most important part but Harry found that he was barely keeping score, he was much more focused on Viktor Krum, who was the most amazing flyer Harry had ever seen.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Draco yelled over the sounds of the screaming crowds. “I did tell you he was incredible.”

Harry smirked. “Yeah, I remember the conversation.” he mused dryly. 

With the omnioculars glued to his eyes, Harry replayed one specific move that Krum pulled - the Wronski Feint, it was apparently called - and he made note to use it in a Quidditch match someday. 

When Ireland won, the green half of the stadium erupted into screams so loud that Harry could hear the blood in his ears, but it didn’t matter. He screamed along, and when they were walking back to the tent later that evening, he threw his arm around Draco’s shoulders and hugged him tightly, singing some random songs he’d heard a drunk Irishman singing as they left the stadium.

Draco cackled. “That was great, wasn’t it?” 

“So good.” Harry grinned. “I’m just so happy right now. I don’t think anything could bring me down.”

Before settling down for the night, Harry and Draco rewarded themselves for the long day they had had with a long makeout session on Harry’s bed, which possibly could have led to more if either of them knew how to cast a decent silencing charm, which it seemed that Sirius and Remus didn’t, or at least had forgotten to do, because faint moans could be heard from the other side of the fabric wall that separated their bedrooms.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t do much more with my dads moaning in the background.” Draco grimaced lightheartedly as he slid off the bed. 

Harry for one couldn’t have been more content. “I don’t mind. As you said, we should take our time.”

Draco put down the toothbrush and toothpaste he had been holding and sat himself cross legged at the end of Harry’s bed. “A few months ago I borrowed your encyclopedia for something.”   


Harry snorted. “For what?”

“I… wanted to do some research.”

Harry’s eyebrow raised suggestively. “Research? On what?”

“What… boys do with each other.” He flushed crimson. “I could have asked Remus, but he seemed really bad at it. He went all red and blurted ‘You know gay men take it up the arse, right?’” Draco laughed but Harry paused and could feel his face going white.

“What?” 

Draco’s eyes widened and his grin faded. “You didn’t know?”

“NO?” Harry yelled, face heating up considerably. He needed air. He marched over to the tent flap to get a cool breeze into the room while shouting, “How was I supposed to know that? From my homophobic aunt and uncle? From Remus and Sirius?” 

Draco rushed over to him and held his shoulders steadily. “It’s not that scary - I don’t think. It’s got to be pleasurable or gay men wouldn’t do it!”

“How can it be pleasurable to have something up your arse?” Harry’s mind was flooded with images, all of them gross and painful.

“That’s why I said we should take our time, we’ll only do that when we’re ready!”   


“I’m  _ never _ going to be ready! How can anyone EVER be ready for something like that?” Harry shoved his head out of the gap he had made at the bottom of the tend and breathed in and out a few times. Draco followed him in a much calmer fashion, but actually moved his whole body outside until he was sitting comfortable on the grass. 

“Okay. We don’t ever have to do that if you don’t want to.” the boy reasoned, staring into space, rather than at his hyperventilating boyfriend. “But it would be perhaps beneficial for you to conduct similar research. From what I can tell, there is biological justification for it all.”

Harry’s breathing seemed to have slowed when he replied. “What do you mean?”

Draco blushed and grimaced. “I really don’t want to explain the ins and outs… no pun intended.”

Harry’s upper lip curled but he came to sit with the blond on the grass eventually. “Fine. I’ll look it up in the encyclopedia when we get home. But I’m not sure I’m going to like what you find.”

Draco smirked. “You’d be surprised.” he mused with almost wistful remembrance. 

“Urgh.” 

The pair sat in silence for a while, contentedly watching the green fireworks pattern the sky and listening to the sounds of drunk Ireland supporters singing songs they didn’t know, and the both were trying very hard not to hear the odd, faint noises they heard from Remus and Sirius’s room. 

Everything was peaceful, until the sounds of triumphant screams were replaced with the sounds of terrified ones, and Harry looked to Draco in alarm.  _ What the hell had happened? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I think I got lost in it somewhere.
> 
> Sorry for the long wait. I've just found out that my GCSEs are officially cancelled. It was annoying at first but looking over my grades I'm not too worried. 
> 
> How are you guys doing? Did you have good holidays? If you celebrate Christmas and/or give gifts did you get any that were really good? I got this gorgeous copy of all of Shakespeare! Its the most amazing thing I own.
> 
> If any of you live in the UK also, I hope you aren't going crazy after being put in another lockdown. It's kind of scary but we're all in it together. 
> 
> xxx


	8. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before posting this I just wanted to quickly add that if you're a Tumblr user I actually have a blog on it that you can check out where I'm going to try posting updates or whatever. Absolutely no pressure, I just wanted to let y'all know just in case you really like following writers on Tumblr.
> 
> It is m00n-riverr
> 
> xxx

Sirius and Remus emerged from the tent with frantic eyes and worried expressions, wearing mismatched clothes that looked as though they were thrown on haphazardly.

“What’s going on, dad?” Draco asked worriedly. 

Remus was brandishing his wand and looking around furtively. “I don’t know, Star, but I’m going to find out. Stay here with Sirius.” He looked to his husband who was eyeing him dangerously. “I’ll be careful.”

Sirius tenderly kissed his cheek with such a look of devotion that Harry was momentarily captivated. “You’d better be.” 

Remus ran off in the direction of the screams and Sirius turned to the boys, his left hand dragging through his long hair.

Draco and Harry had lifted themselves off the ground and were on their feet. Sirius looked them over.

“You two should get into warmer clothes.” he advised. “I have a feeling you won’t be going to bed anytime soon.” It was exactly as he said those words when a majestic wolf Patronus charged towards him and began to speak with Remus’ panicked voice.

“Tell the boys to pull on some warmer clothes and start warning everyone. Some Death Eaters are here and they’re torturing some muggles and marching around, it’s like some kind of sick parade. Start running, I’ll catch up with you.”

The night from that point was a blurry series of events.

Harry and Draco tugged on coats and shoes and rushed out the flap of the tent. Thankfully, the Death Eaters hadn’t arrived on their side of the campsite yet so they had time to wake up and warn their neighbours. 

The boys ran straight to the Weasley's tent and screamed at them to wake up. 

Draco was shaking the twins when Harry finally woke up Ron who informed them that the girls were sleeping in a tent next door.

“Go get Hermione and Ginny.” Draco commanded, just as Fred was beginning to wake. 

Harry was leaving the tent when he caught a glimpse of a group of hooded, ominous figures approaching, each suspending a writhing figure in the air as they walked. 

Ron tugged on his arm and led Harry to a smaller tent next to theirs, which contained only two beds and a small bathroom.

“I’ll take Ginny.” Ron said as he darted to his sister’s bed.

Harry began shaking Hermione.

“What?” she groaned, her hair bigger than ever from the static of the bed. 

“Hermione, it’s Harry, you need to wake up right now.” Harry began collecting some of her things, a coat and some warm shoes. 

“Why, what’s happening?”

“We don’t have time to explain, just put these on and bring your wand or anything valuable, but you have to be quick.” 

Ginny and Hermione were up quickly and joined them as they met with Draco and the other Weasleys. 

“Alright boys,” said Mr Weasley as he ushered the group towards the forest. “Where are Sirius and Remus?” 

“Sirius is waking up some other houses and Remus went to go and see what the screams were about.” Draco informed.

“Okay, Fred, George, you take the younger ones and try to stay together.  _ Don’t _ split up.” 

“Where are you going?” Ginny asked, a slight tremble in her voice. Harry saw Ron put an arm around her shoulder and she collapsed into him. Harry sought Draco’s hand and found that it was oddly steady. 

“They’ll need me to help out.” Arthur explained. “If I see Sirius or Remus I’ll tell them where you all went, okay?” He looked to Draco. “Your dads are extremely competent wizards, they will be absolutely fine, I’m sure of it.”

Harry watched as his boyfriend, who still seemed oddly calm, nodded and set his jaw. “Thank you, Mr Weasley, that means a lot to me.” 

Draco began ushering the group towards the forest as soon as Mr Weasley left but as soon as they reached the edge, he stopped and held Harry back.

He looked behind his shoulder at the fiery glow that was emitting from the other end of the field and turned back to Harry with a determined glint in his eye. 

“I’m going to do something,” he began. “And I don’t want you to try and stop me.”   


Harry held onto his hand tighter and growled. “You’re not going  _ anywhere _ , you’re coming with us.”

Draco’s nostrils flared and his voice suddenly took on an icy edge. “If you’re not with me, you’re against me.” Suddenly, Harry felt an intense, aching pain in the hand that was holding Draco’s and hand to withdraw with a hiss. He realised that Draco had just used his powers purposefully when his hand was drenched in cold water. 

Harry looked into his boyfriend’s eyes and desperately searched for the Draco he was kissing only half an hour before, who kissed him with such tenderness that Harry couldn’t understand how he could ever be scary. But there was nothing tender about Draco’s eyes now, they were hard and glaring down at his. 

“Draco…” he said in astonishment, but Draco ignored him and stalked off defiantly. 

“Where’s he going?” Harry heard Fred or George yell over the sounds of the roaring fire and screams.

“I don’t know.” 

“We have to get him back, Mr Weasley said we shouldn’t split up!” Hermione exclaimed.

“We have to get everyone that’s still here to safety first, ‘Mione.” said Fred in a much calmer tone. 

The Death Eaters were coming closer and Harry could see the darkened silhouette of Draco stalking towards them, his platinum hair barely visible in the light. 

“C’mon, Harry.” said Ron, tugging his arm, and Harry reluctantly turned away from the horrific scene to the forest. 

“Let’s go.”

***

Draco didn’t know what he was doing. But a voice in his head was directing his every move.

_ Go towards the fire. _

It had said in a mystical voice. Draco felt the overwhelming need to listen to it but knew rationally that he shouldn’t, especially not with his sensitivity to fire. But as he walked away with the group, an intent tugging could be felt on the back of his head that was so strong that he eventually had to give in. He didn’t remember exactly what he had said to Harry, but he almost remembered the hurt look he was given in response, but he shoved it to the back of his head as he calmly sauntered away.

He was close enough to the flames that they slightly stung his face when the voice spoke again,

_ Extinguish them. _

Draco’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration and he held him hand above the flames until a flurry of white, fluffy snow emerged and fell down to the flames, putting them out in a burst of steam. 

He quickly improved from there, putting out larger and larger fires with less and less effort as he went along. He was so concentrated in his actions that he didn’t notice the approaching figures until they were metres away and watching him intently, it seemed. 

When he did, he leaped in front of them and allowed the screams of the children and the sobs of their parents and the knowledge that none of them would ever fully recover from this night to fill him. It eclipsed everything else. 

For those moments, which only lasted milliseconds but felt like hours to him, he was flooded with images of Harry as a child, watching his parents be brutally murdered, his father being forced into Azkaban for four years because nobody believed him, Lucius in his cell, rotted teeth and lanky hair tormenting him, and it all culminated in an explosion of anger which he would someday admit, if only to himself, was one of the most influential moments of his life. 

He screamed, not out of pain but of sheer relief, as he allowed his powers to consume him and release in a flush. As he cast out the ice and snow, he closed his eyes, but could hear the gasps and shrieks, and imagined they were cheers. Hundreds of people gathered to watch him banish the evil monsters who had been haunting the town. 

But when he stopped casting, and peeked open an eye, he didn’t see a crowd of grateful faces, or a banished monster. He saw children clinging to their parents and staring at him in fear, he saw Sirius and Remus, pale in the light of the distant fires now that Draco had extinguished the ones that were illuminating their side of the campsite, watching him with twin expressions of grim horror, and he saw before him, four Death Eaters, four men in hoods and masks, each trapped in walls of messy ice, as though a snow flurry had hardened them and were being presented in a museum. Their wands still held aloft but no longer casting any spell. He knew this because the muggles who were being lifted almost fell to the ground but were caught just in time by some Aurors and were being led away from the scene to be obliviated. 

Draco was in shock. He stood rooted to the ground, gazing down at his hands, which were as pale and skeletal looking as he had always observed them to be, but now had taken on an unnerving edge, as he knew what they were capable of. 

He examined the Death Eater masks, frozen in the clear ice. They looked like metal skulls, which grates for mouths and gaping holes for eyes, big enough for Draco to see through. All but one of the figures had their eyes shut in a reflex motion for the oncoming attack of ice, but there was one of them who had forced his eyes to stay open, as Draco could see them clearly through the ice. They were dark, almost black, and large. Oddly large. The skin around the eye was pale and luminous, very much like his own. 

Draco shuddered and almost collapsed but was caught by a strong, unknown figure, who lifted his body away from the crowds, who were still staring at him intently. He didn’t see them, but he could feel their eyes following him. 

The strong figure took him to a bed and laid him down upon it before lighting a fire and them stroking his hairline calmly as he drifted off. Just before he fully allowed sleep to encompass him, however, Draco looked up at the figure, to find that it was only Remus, with Sirius over his shoulder. 

He just had the strength to muster two words before sleep engulfed him. He spoke in a shattered, tired voice, and could hear even in his tired state, that it didn’t sound like him. “No fire…” he whispered. 

The last thing he remembered was the fire being extinguished and the room being plunged into darkness and a faint, pleasant chill. 


	9. Chapter Eight

It was getting darker as the group trudged deeper into the woods. 

“Where exactly are we going?” Harry asked.

Fred shrugged. “Dunno.” he said. “As far away from the campsite as possible, until it’s safe to go back.”   


“Will it be safe to go back?” asked Hermione.

George pulled a grim face. “We know no more than you guys do.”

Harry sighed and put his cold hands in his pyjama bottom pockets, expecting to feel the cool, comforting presence of his wand bumping against his hand, but finding them completely empty instead. His heart dropped into his stomach.

“Oh no.” he murmured, and continued to feel frantically around his person.

“What is it?” Ron asked, who was closest to him.

“I think I dropped my wand.” He groaned and began to squint at the floor.

“Harry, I hate to break it to you, but Death Eaters are storming the campsite and messing with Muggles, we can get your wand in the morning!” George chided as he yanked Ginny along, who seemed to be falling asleep.

“What if someone picks it up?” 

Fred made an exasperated sound. “Then we’ll get you a new wand, now keep walking.” 

Harry scowled and gazed up at the moon, a semicircle beacon in the sky and let his mind wander to Draco, who had treated him with such disdain earlier. What could he be doing now? Was he okay? What was his plan? He shivered at the memory of those cold eyes on him, which were so different from the tender, softer ones which gazed down at him with reverence and love back at the tent. He remembered Draco’s lips on his neck, trailing downwards and his faint whisper in the dark up against his skin that sent shivers down his spine, even while only thinking about it.

Just as his thoughts were nearing dangerous territory, they were interrupted by a white light piercing the darkness, and a weasel shaped animal charging towards them.

“It’s dad.” George said, as he gathered everyone around to hear the message.

“You can make your way back now.” said the weasel, in Mr Weasley’s voice. “But be careful. The Aurors are still rounding up stragglers.”

The apparition faded and George turned to everyone with a soft smile. “Alright, well I guess it’s safe now-” He was seemingly distracted from his thoughts by something up in the sky, as he was frozen in grim horror staring up through the trees. Everyone followed his gaze to see a chilling image, glittering in the sky. A sparkling skull with a snake pouring out of its mouth.

“W-what is that?” Harry managed to choke out.

“The Dark Mark.” Fred said, voice barely above a whisper.

“What does it mean?” 

The twin cleared his throat and seemed to try and compose himself. “It’s just signalling that Death Eaters have been here. Which they have, so I don’t think it comes as too much of a surprise now that you think about it.”

“Not too much of a surprise?” mocked George. “No one has seen that mark in fourteen years!” 

“No one has seen Death Eaters in fourteen years, at least not so out in the open, tormenting people like tonight. Everything about this evening is shocking, I think a glittering skull is the least of our worries.”   


“Are we going back to the camp or not?” demanded Harry, desperate to see Draco.

“Yes.” said Fred.   


“No.” said George, at the same time. They looked at each other, but didn’t have to settle the disagreement on their own, as the weasel was returning swiftly.

“Try to come back if you can, it’s best if you stick together. We have a small situation over here and I would feel much better knowing you all were with me. Don’t be scared of the Dark Mark, I’m sure it’s just a stupid prank.” The weasel disappeared once more. 

Harry didn’t need to be told twice and began marching in the direction of the camp. He paid no heed to the protestations of the rest of the group and their begging for him to slow down, because his brain was buzzing with worry. Mr Weasley had said that there was a situation, did it involve Draco? But his question was answered too soon, as the second he stepped out of the woods and into the campsite, he saw a line of four Death Eaters, frozen in ice. 

He shoved through the crowds viciously and desperately searched for his tent. At long last, he located it and darted inside.

“Draco?” he called. “Draco?” 

“In here, Harry.” said a soft voice coming from Harry and Draco’s room. 

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and pulled back the canvas material, only to Draco lying on the bed, with Remus nursing his forehead. He looked awful, sickly and pale with dark circles under his eyes. Harry rushed to his side and stared down at him in horror.

“What happened?” he said.

Remus swallowed thickly. “I’m still trying to piece that together myself, actually.” He gave a rueful laugh. “I think he lost control. I think I missed most of it, other people have more detailed stories but I don’t know what to believe, and I’ve mostly been here. Not that I’ve been here very long, this all happened like, five minutes ago.”

Harry knelt down to Draco’s level and stroked his hairline lovingly. “So he stopped those Death Eaters.”   


“Yeah. I don’t really know what’s happening there either. We saw a big commotion and ran to it and someone was… I don’t really know how to describe it. There was a lot of smoke. And when it cleared, I just saw Draco. Standing there all alone” Remus began to choke up. “He looked so scared. Like he had only just realised what he’d done. I should have stayed with him, he shouldn't have done that alone.” Harry reached for Remus’ hand over the top of the bed and squeezed it. 

“I shouldn’t have let him go.”

“But he stopped them! Not only did he stop them but he captured them!” said Remus, a small smile of pride toying at his lips. “We were so scared when Dumbledore gave him to us, because we thought that he would grow up like his father and use his powers to do evil things. Merlin knows you two could be powerful enough to take down cities if you wanted to, but Draco could probably do that on his own, as could you. That was the scary part. But look at what he’s done!” Remus chuckled. “He just captured four Death Eaters!”

Harry thought about the cool and distant Draco who brushed him off earlier. That Draco didn’t seem very good, but he did the right thing in the end. Perhaps that emotionless, take-no-prisoners Draco was someone Harry needed to get used to.

“He isn’t waking up?” 

Remus sniffed and brushed at his nose. “No. But I haven’t tried. I think he needs to rest.” 

“He does look very tired.” Harry looked up at Moony, who also looked tired.

“Go to sleep, Remus. You can use my bed. I’ll keep an eye on Draco.” 

Remus looked concerned. “Are you sure?” he asked.

Harry nodded. “Absolutely.” 

Remus settled himself down under Harry’s sheets and seemed to fall asleep within two seconds of his head being laid upon the pillow, and Harry returned to Draco, who was breathing heavily, but besides that was scarily still.

As Harry sat, watching over the beautiful boy he had grown to love, he thought about everything they had been through. All of the adventures and mysteries they solved together. He thought about their first kiss, after Draco had solved the puzzle with the potions and had allowed Harry to continue on without him. He thought about their first night at Hogwarts, when Draco had told him about his parents. Harry had thought, back then, that he and Draco could never be like their parents. He thought that he would forge his own path and that Draco would show the world that he wasn’t anything like Lucius. But as Harry gazed upon his boyfriend’s face, a sick feeling rolled into his stomach, that it wouldn’t matter how similar or dissimilar they were to their parents, and it didn’t matter what the world thought about them, they were doomed. 

A small, salty tear rolled down Harry’s face as he thought about the prophecy. He had done a good job of forgetting it, especially over the past day, which seemed as though it had taken lifetimes, but the image of the Death Eaters, encapsulated in ice, and Draco lying, practically lifeless on the bed, reminded Harry that the prophecy was very real, and that he and Draco were running out of time.

Harry began to smooth him hand over Draco’s forearm in a back and forth motion, allowing the pace to soothe him, but he noticed that from the tips of Draco’s fingers, there seemed to be a small flurry of snow, falling onto the bed.

He looked up at Draco’s face, and saw that the eyes which had been closed mere seconds earlier, were open and glaring at the ceiling.

“Draco!” he cried. “You’re awake!” 

Remus shot up from the bed and snapped his head to Draco, before sighing in relief.

“Thank Merlin!”

There came a rustling as Sirius crashed into the room. “Star!” he exclaimed.

But Draco remained glaring at the ceiling through it all. 

“Draco?” Harry asked tentatively, smile faltering. 

This time, by way of a reply, Draco grunted through gritted teeth and seemed to twitch. The room fell into silence as they watched Draco grimace and twitch again, although this time it was more of a lurch. 

“What’s he doing?” Harry asked, but Remus and Sirius’ faces were both plastered with twin expressions of bafflement.

Draco’s chest lurched into the air, similar to the way that Harry had seen possessed people act in those horror movies Dudley had forced him to watch when he was ten, and Draco screamed with effort.

Sirius rushed forward and lay a soothing hand on his son’s arm.

“ _Don’t_ _touch me!_ ” Draco roared before once again tossing and turning and contorting his body.

“I think he’s trying to… move?” said Remus. 

“What are we supposed to do?” asked Sirius, “He won’t let me touch him!”

Remus had tears streaming down his cheeks. Harry had never seen an adult cry, especially not one so usually calm as Remus. Harry looked up to see that Sirius was in a similar state, and noticed that he too seemed to have been unconsciously crying. 

“Should we firecall Dumbledore?” Remus suggested.

“No. The old coot would probably just tell us to sit here and wait until it was over.” Sirius looked down at his son, who was lurching and twisting his body into uncomfortable shapes and seemed to him to be in pain. “Let’s take him to St. Mungos.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They should have Barbie movies on Netflix because I kid you not Barbie The Princess and The Pauper is one of my favourite movies ever and I'm sick of having to put in a DVD everytime I want to watch it.
> 
> I could get heated about this, I digress.
> 
> I'll tell you what, online schooling is bloody difficult. It's not even really the schoolwork that's the problem, even though the schoolwork is difficult, to me it's the Zoom calls. They just don't sit right with me. Plus by the end of the day my room is just really stuffy because I've barely moved from my desk and I can never concentrate.
> 
> Are any of you online schooling or working from home? If so, I empathise, we'll get through this together with a lot fo fanfiction.


	10. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tend to only post on a Sunday but I had a surge of inspiration to write this chapter (the idea for which has been bouncing around my brain for some time now)
> 
> I hope you enjoy, I'm really proud of this one specifically for some reason xx

When Draco woke up he felt numb. Completely. His body felt separate from him, as though it was on the other side of the room, but he couldn’t feel any flicker of emotion about it. He didn’t feel stressed that his body was seemingly detached from him, he didn’t feel scared or lonely because he was somewhere he didn’t recognise. He didn’t even feel any relief as regarding the horrific incident, which he was only just now remembering.

He replayed the events in his head but it felt as though he was watching it clinically, as though he was an Auror looking into a Pensieve of his memories. He remembered somebody’s hurt expression, but felt no remorse or guilt. He remembered odd figures trapped in ice that he created, and felt no triumph. 

After some hesitation, he peeked open an eyelid to find that he was lying underneath blinding lights. He swivelled his eyes around and saw two men sitting either side of a boy, the boy whose hurt face he had remembered. 

“Draco!” exclaimed one of the men who had been sitting in the chairs. He had curly, light brown hair and golden eyes and scars across his face. Draco recognised him, but couldn’t quite pinpoint a name or his relationship to him. 

The other two figures had leaped up to gaze down at him, as though he were a specimen they were examining.

“Hey, little star.” the other man cooed. “How’re you feeling?” The other man had darker, longer hair and silver eyes. He recognised him also, but again couldn’t remember much about him. The man’s smile faltered and he looked behind him. “What’s going on with him?” he asked someone. 

“We noticed that he was having wild fits and was highly emotional, we don’t know exactly why but it is probably due to your son’s… condition.” said the voice, which was low and comforting. “We have given him some numbing draught, which numbs both his body and his emotions. It will only last for about twelve to fifteen hours and hopefully by then his fits will have calmed. A side effect is just that it may take a few minutes for his memory to completely return, I’d say he’s feeling rather hazy right now.”

The dark haired man returned his gaze to Draco after thanking the person and smiled at him, with a concerned glint in his eye.

“Heya little star!” he said, calling Draco that odd nickname again. “Do you remember who I am?” Draco racked his brain for a same and came to some conclusion that it began with an S… or a P. It was rather confusing. However, a flash of a memory did return to him for a moment. A memory of a birthday party, and Draco tearing open a present: a book on Quidditch, and on the inside was inscribed: 

_ To our little star, _

_ Happy 10th Birthday! _

_ We love you very much, _

_ Pads and Moony xxxx _

For some reason, Draco sensed that the dark haired man was Pads. Perhaps it came from deep in his subconscious. But nevertheless he said, in a voice barely audible:

“Pads.” 

The dark haired man grinned widely. “Yeah, that’s me, kiddo.”

“Do you remember me, Draco?”

Draco squinted at the man with a scarred face and golden eyes. If he wasn’t Pads, he must have been:

“Moony.”

The man smiled warmly and seemed to pat his arm, although Draco couldn’t feel it.

“What about me?” said a small voice from behind the man. And out came the boy Draco had remembered before. He had wild black hair and a scar across his forehead, but what struck Draco were his eyes, which were a shocking emerald green. They felt so deeply familiar to him that the name rushed to his lips like a stream of water.

“Harry.” 

The boy seemed to sigh in relief, but Draco couldn’t barely register it over the weight of his eyelids. He yawned.

“He’s probably still very tired.” the Moony-man said. 

Draco didn’t hear anymore, because he fell back to sleep once more. He awoke again apparently some while later, because the bright lights of the hospital were out and the room was quite dark, aside from the bright lights coming in from the windows. 

Draco assessed himself. He could feel his body now, which was nice, but if the nurse was right when they said that the numbing potion also numbed his emotions, that certainly hadn’t worn off. He felt sort of floaty and detached, but he could recognise an annoying itch in the back of his throat, which indicated that he was thirsty.

He sat up slowly and stretched. He felt as though he had been asleep for a hundred years. He vaguely remembered a story he had once read about a princess who really did fall asleep for a hundred years. But where? Perhaps his memory had not completely returned then.

Carefully, Draco swung his legs off the bed and his feet touched the cold, hospital floor with a shudder. As he confidently began to stride off, Draco was held back by a weight that was seemingly attached to him. He followed the feeling and found that he was indeed wired up to a tall trolley, with fizzling tubes of colourful potions hanging from it and apparently being pumped into him. 

He shrugged and carefully towed the trolley along with him as he wandered the floor, desperately searching for a drink.

He didn’t know what time it was, but nobody was in the hallways, they were deserted. Which made a nice change from the crowded rows of tents at - where was it again? Draco stopped short in the hall for a moment before shrugging and continuing his pursuit. It would come to him. 

Draco peered into the rooms he passed, each was crowded with empty beds, none of which had water next to them. He had almost given up hope and was about to resign himself back to his bed, when a misty voice weaved through his thick, cloudy thoughts.

“Lucius?” it said. Draco looked around him. The hallway was just as deserted as before. 

“Lucius?” There it was again, louder this time. He could pinpoint where it was coming from: the room he had just passed. Draco surveyed his options. He could go towards the voice, which would surely prove for a wonderful adventure, and he wouldn’t feel any fear because of the numbing potion. However, he was certain he was  _ not _ Lucius, clearly this voice was mistaken. This could also be dangerous, but what did that matter in the end? If he was remembering correctly, he had survived a lot worse than a mysterious voice who thought he was someone he wasn’t. And besides, maybe the mystery voice had water, as he was quite thirsty by now.

Draco was decided. He turned towards the sound of the voice, which had continued its calling as he thought, and stumbled forward, the trolley trailing not too far behind. 

Inside the room were about eight beds, four pushed against each wall, but one of them was surrounded by meshy curtains.

“Lucius, come here!” 

Now that Draco was closer, he could hear some thumping and the sounds of struggles from behind the curtain, but progressed just as quickly as he was before, if not faster. He found the crack in the curtains, which had been open slightly. Presumably, this was how the voice had seen him. 

He peeled the curtain back to reveal a woman, strapped in by her wrists and ankles to her bed. She was struggling against the shackles with ferocity, Draco noted, but she continued to call out the same name.

“Lucius!” she said, in a half-whisper, half-choke. “You’re out of Azkaban!”

Draco continued to gaze at her with detached indifference, but his memories told him that her face was familiar. 

“My name is not Lucius.” he said, and the woman immediately calmed. 

She stared at him, bemused. “Of course you are.” She paused and inspected him. “I suppose you are a little young. Who are you then?”

“My name is Draco.”

He watched as the woman’s face melted and her eyes filled with tears. “Draco?” she whispered softly with reverence. “My baby boy.” Tears openly steamed down her face now and she smiled widely. Draco noticed the shackles dissolve and furrowed his brow.

Draco vaguely wondered who this woman was, for her face was certainly familiar now that he had had a chance to look at it. His eyes wandered to the end of the bed, where a placard read:  _ Narcissa Malfoy _ . Oh. He definitely remembered that name. A memory flashed into view of him sitting on a bed talking to the Harry boy. 

“My parents are Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.” he remembered himself explaining. 

“You are my mother?” Draco said now to the woman. 

She smiled and opened her arms to him. “Yes, that’s me.” Draco walked into her arms and she embraced him, keeping a tight hold for a few minutes as she sobbed into his hair and reiterated every form of ‘I love you’ and ‘I missed you’ in the book. He wished that his emotions weren’t so dulled, for he was sure he was meant to be showing this much joy at this reunion, but he felt nothing but thirst, if he was being honest.

When she pulled pack and began to survey him, he kindly asked her “Do you have any water?” to which she responded with a bemused falter in her smile and a gesture towards a jug and a glass. Draco poured himself a drink and chugged it.

“Do you want another?” Narcissa asked. 

Draco thought about it. “No thanks.” he said, he was quenched of his thirst. However, another beast erupted in his stomach and growled ferociously. “Do you have any grapes?” he asked.

Narcissa shook her head. “No, sorry.” Her eyes trailed to his trolley and nodded, as though the puzzle was solving itself. “If you don’t mind me asking, how drugged out are you?”

Draco smacked his lips and inspected his nails. “Very, I’d imagine.”

Narcissa smiled in understanding and nodded. “I know that feeling very well. I can’t even remember the first three years of being in here because they had me on so many potions.”

“You’ve been here for three years?”

“Ten years now, I’d say.”   


“Why?”

“They say I’m mad.”

“Are you?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s rude of them.”

“Yes, very.” 

Draco looked around at the curtained area. It was bland and plain. There were no trinkets or ornaments other than a vase of white flowers. 

“I don’t suppose you remember much about Lucius right now?” Narcissa asked.

Draco shook his head and noticed the familiar heavy-lidded feeling that indicated his tiredness. “I’m tired. Do you mind if I head back to my room?” 

Narcissa looked disappointed, but understanding. “Of course. Come back when you aren’t on potions?”

Draco smiled, if he wasn’t quite mistaken, a small flicker of happiness had bloomed in his chest for just a second, his emotions were returning like a warm fire after a cold day. He looked at his mother, who he now noticed looked a bit like him. He recognised the smile, which he himself had seen in the mirror everyday. 

“Sure.”

With the trolley clattering behind him, Draco returned to the hallway and began to head back to his room.

“Mr Malfoy, what are you doing out of bed?” said another voice, this time it wasn’t quite so mystical. 

Draco looked up to see a young man in light green robes. He nodded at him in acknowledgement.

“Let’s head back to your room, shall we?” 

Draco nodded. The only sounds in the hallway were the echos of their footsteps, the professional clic-clac of the mediwizard’s shoes, and the plip-plop of his bare feet. Draco felt his stomach rumble again.

“Do  _ you _ have any grapes?”


	11. Chapter Ten

When Harry, Remus and Sirius all piled into St. Mungos the next morning, they were pleasantly surprised to find Draco propped up on his pillows, happily munching on a bowl of green grapes. 

He smiled at them, relieved, and set aside his bowl to give them all tight hugs.

“So you’re all better then, Star?” asked Sirius as he sat in a chair by Draco’s bed. 

Draco shrugged. “I’m still pretty tired, but I don’t feel weird anymore.” 

Remus reached for his hand and squeezed it. “I’m glad, you really scared us there.”

“And everyone else in the Wizarding World, I bet.” Draco returned to his bowl. He hadn’t looked at Harry for more than two seconds yet and Harry was trying to catch his eye.

There was a rustling noise as Remus produced a stack of newspapers and magazines. “You’re not wrong.”

Draco poured himself a large glass of water and seemed to settle himself in with a grim expression. “Hit me.” he said, taking a large gulp.

Remus flipped open the first paper and cleared his throat. “‘ _ Death Eater and Child of Prophecy - Is Draco Malfoy a danger to society?’ _ ” he read monotonously. 

Draco sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Which paper was that?” 

“Daily Prophet.”

The boy smirked and huffed. “I should have known.”

“The rest are better.” said Sirius.

“Let's hope so.” said Draco. “Alright, next.”

Remus produced the next paper. “This one is just: ‘ _ Draco Malfoy - The Cursed Child.’ _ ”

Draco made a face. “That one seems a bit kinder. Although if I was going to call any of us a cursed child I’d say it was Harry.” He glanced at him. “No offense.”

Harry warmed, it was nice to see Draco being his witty self again. “None taken.”

“You’ve both been dealt a shoddy hand.” said Sirius.

Through another grape, Draco ignored this comment and commanded for the next headline to be read aloud.

“They’re all just the same garbage really.” said Remus. 

“I don’t know about that.” said Harry with a mischievous grin. 

Draco turned to him. “What do you mean?”

Harry produced a copy of a magazine which he had recently discovered to be endlessly entertaining, with its odd stories about strange creatures. He cleared his throat and read from the cover, “High Nargle count at Quidditch Match - are we expecting an invasion?”

Draco scoffed. “That’s all they wrote?”

Harry nodded. “They only mention you by name in the article once!” He flipped to the page and located the extract with a dramatic flair. “‘Also present at the match was none other than Draco Malfoy, who displayed seemingly odd signs of strange magic, but we here are more inclined to think that Mr Malfoy just needs some calming Moon Frog juice.’ And then they go on to say that Moon Frogs are currently in season, and that they could drop up some freshly brewed juice to you whenever it is convenient.”

Draco threw his head back and cackled. “What is that magazine?”

“It’s called The Quibbler.”

“I think I’ve heard of it before.” Draco mused. He turned to his dads. “Who do we know who’s involved with The Quibbler?”

Sirius knitted his brow. “The Lovegoods are the ones who run it, and I think we’re distantly related to them. Luna is something like your second cousin once removed, or something.” 

“Ravenclaw? Bright blonde hair?”

“That’s the one.”

Draco turned back to Harry. “We should talk to her when we get back to Hogwarts. Thank her for not being a cow in her magazine.”

As Harry nodded, a mediwitch slid her way through the gap in the curtains. “Mr Malfoy.” she greeted cheerily. “Mr and Mr Lupin-Black, Mr Potter, how are you all?”

Everyone offered various sentiments of being ‘pretty good’ and the woman eyed the newspapers. “I am sorry about all of those.” she said. “I’m afraid we have a whole gang of people downstairs begging to be let in for an interview. Of course, we are keeping them at bay. We have Aurors on hand if it gets too rowdy.”

“Yeah, we passed them on the way in,” said Sirius.

“Again, I am so sorry. This must be very difficult.” She turned to Draco. “Moving on to happier things, Mr Malfoy, you are getting better by the minute. It happens to be that your magical core is one of the strongest I’ve seen in my career and it will surely bounce back from this quickly.” She walked briskly over to his trolley and checked the potions. “Now that I think of it, you probably don’t remember my name.” She held out her hand with a smile. “I’m Mediwitch Wattle, but you can call me Abella.”

Draco shook her hand. “Draco Malfoy.” 

“Now, I don’t know if you remember, but your magical core was slightly damaged during the incident so we’ve been supplying you with some potions to get it back on track. When you are released I advise to try and refrain from these… outbursts, although I completely understand if this is difficult. As you know, we have never really dealt with a situation like yours before.” 

She spoke very quickly, Harry noted, as though she had a hundred thoughts racing through her head and was trying to keep up. It was quite pleasing, and it made Harry feel calmer, that Draco was in such capable hands. 

“You were having fits, so we put you on numbing potion, the effects of which I am sure you remember if only slightly.” Draco nodded and smiled at Amber, seemingly remembering his time of the potion. “Speaking of that little adventure, Mediwizard Cornus told me everything that you told him, are you comfortable with discussing this in front of your family?”

Draco thought about it for a moment before nodding. “They can know, I think they’d get annoyed if they didn’t” he added ruefully. 

“Alright then,” Abella addressed the room just as much as she was addressing Draco individually. “Mr Malfoy was seen wandering around the halls last night and when asked he told us that he visited Mrs Narcissa Malfoy.”

Everyone gasped lightly except Draco, who munched on yet another grape. 

She now turned back to Draco. “Now, Narcissa Malfoy has been asking for you every minute since daybreak, she insists that you promised her that you would visit.”   


Draco nodded. “I did. And I will.” 

“Draco, you can't,” said Sirius.

“Yes, I bloody well can!” 

“Draco, she’s not well,” said Remus.

“She’s my mother!” 

“It isn’t going to be a nice visit, it might really hurt you.”

“I saw Lucius!”

“And if I’d had any say in that, I wouldn't have let you!”

“I’m going. That’s that.”

“You are not.” said Remus, with a scary air of finality. “I love you, Draco, you know that, but your mother is not well. She is very sick and, you may not have noticed because you were so drugged out, can barely remember that she is your mother.”

“She can! She remembered everything!”

“Draco, I am begging you to wait a while. Please. Need I remind you that you are in St Mungos because you were having  _ violent fits _ ?” 

It was at this point Abella and Sirius were trying to step in with calming words.

“Remus,” cooed Sirius, petting his husband’s arm. “Everything’s fine. Deep breaths.” Remus shot Sirius an annoyed look. “I’ll take him out.” Sirius said to Abella, who nodded and she was trying to calm Draco down, who was silently fuming as small flurries of snow were escaping from his fingertips.

As Remus was being dragged away, Harry moved his chair closer to Draco and reached out to hold his trembling hand. The moment their flesh collided, Draco flinched away and flipped his head around to stare at Harry. He calmed down as soon as their eyes locked. 

“You alright?” said Harry quietly, once Draco’s breathing had slowed and Abella had left. By now they were holding hands loosely and Harry was petting Draco’s skin. 

“I’m fine.”

“It's scary when you’re like that.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” Draco gnawed on his lip. “I can’t control it, though.”

“Do you think it's a part of the prophecy?”

Draco stared off into the distance, tears glistening, unshed, in his eyes. He nodded. “This means it's going to happen to you soon, I bet.”

“You think?”

Draco nodded again and took a deep, stealing breath. “Harry, I think we need to have a talk.”

A hole in the bottom of Harry’s stomach opened like a gaping chasm. “No.”

Draco looked at him. “We do.”

“No!” 

“Harry-”

“You aren’t breaking up with me!”

“It's not about that, I just don’t want us to put each other in danger!”

“We’re in danger already!”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I don’t care!”

“Please don’t make this more difficult than it already is.” Tears were streaming down both of their faces now, open and hot like salty streams. 

“No.”

“Harry-”

“No, Draco, listen to me.” Draco snapped his mouth shut. “We aren’t breaking up.” Draco opened his mouth to protest but Harry ploughed on. “No, we aren’t, not if I have anything to say about it.” Harry scooted closer and grasped Draco’s hand in both of his own. “I love you. I  _ love _ you, and I know it may be dangerous, and that we are going to hurt each other on the way, but I  _ love _ you. And I don’t even care about a life without you in it.”

“You don’t mean that.”   


“I do. What’s the point in life without the person you love most in the world.” 

Draco sobbed. “I can’t stand the thought of hurting you.”

“And I can’t stand the thought of hurting you, but we’re going to get through this.”

Draco brought his other hand to meet where his and Harry’s were clasped together and pressed his cool lips against them. Harry could feel the icy magic thrumming beneath Draco’s skin and knew that Draco was feeling the fire in his. 

“I love you so much, Draco.”

“I know. I love you too, Harry.”

After a moment of heavy silence, Harry shook his head and wiped away his tears with the back of his hand. “And anyway, there is a homicidal maniac who I think has just strolled back into town, so we don’t have to worry about each other just yet.”

Draco grinned. “Merlin, we really are cursed, aren’t we?” Harry smiled back, though an air of uncertainty had settled in his gut. Although he and Draco were still technically together, how long would it be until they weren't?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry. 
> 
> Also I've had some ideas for other fic ideas that I kind of want to indulge (Drarry duh) just in case you might be interested. I want to do something period (like Victorian England or Gatsby style 20s)
> 
> Have a lovely day!


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh baby, its a long one. I did this instead of schoolwork.
> 
> btw TW I don't use any homophobic slurs in this chapter, I'm trying to avoid the use of homophobic slurs in this series even when homophobic jerks come in, but Narcissa is homophobic and horrible about it so if you aren't too cool with that, just be wary of the Narcissa scene. <3
> 
> Hope you're having a lovely day! I just wanted to say a quick thank you for all of the love and support on this series. Thank you to everyone who has given this a kudos or bookmarked it or ever commented on it, thank you even more if you comment regularly I see who you all are and I'm so grateful <3<3 And thank you for keeping up with my inconsistent upload schedule lol

Sirius took Harry home and left Remus and Draco to make up. They didn’t blame each other for their short tempers, mostly because Remus was a werewolf and was therefore protective of his pack instinctively and Draco was dealing with a condition none of them knew the effects of, so it was understandable that both of them got so angry so easily. But that didn’t mean that they had completely changed their minds on the topic.

“I want to see my mother,” said Draco. The world outside St Mungos was dark and the streetlights shone through the curtains and doused the room with a golden glow.

Remus took a deep, stilling breath. “I don’t think it's a good idea.”

“Why not? What could possibly happen?” Draco watched as his dad flared his nostrils and continued to glare at the floor. “She’s restrained, it’s not like she’s going to hurt me!”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”   


“Then what?”

“Draco, she is still just as much a supporter of Voldemort as she was before. Perhaps even more so because at times she forgets all of the horrible things that happened to her because she was involved with Death Eaters.” Remus ranted. “Look, I’m not sure if you realise this yet, but the Death Eaters will want you on their side. You are a powerful weapon, Draco. And a Malfoy too.” 

Draco traced the aged lines on his dad’s face. He looked so old. After all those years of battling with his condition, it made sense that he was aging quicker than he should, but it still made Draco sad to see it. 

He turned Remus’ words over in his head like a stone. He was vaguely aware that Voldemort, should he come back, would want him as a weapon. And he was well aware that the Malfoy name could get him into trouble with the wrong people. But being told that his suspicions were correct by a man he trusted more than anyone felt like ice cold water being dumped on his head, or perhaps some equivalent of that since it seemed that ice cold water wouldn’t affect him that much. 

People had asked Draco before why he wouldn’t change his last name to Lupin-Black and he hadn’t given them a straight answer. Really, it was because he knew what kind of danger he’d be in if he did. At least with Malfoy as a last name, he could pretend he was protected. But if he started branding himself as a Lupin-Black, he was sure that the Death Eaters wouldn’t think twice about turning on him.

When he was younger, and he had seen Tom Riddle in the Chamber of Secrets, Draco had been filled with a strange, ominous feeling as he drifted to sleep. A feeling that he was going to come into contact with Voldemort again. He didn’t know for certain, but to be safe he concocted a plan. And that plan relied heavily on Draco keeping his name the way that it was. 

“What, do you think she’s going to try and convert me?” said Draco, trying desperately to keep his voice steady.

“I don’t know what she’s going to do, but I don’t want you to start being fed the wrong messages.”

“Aren’t I supposed to make up my own mind on this?” 

Remus stared at him. “What do you mean?”

Draco struggled but eventually strung some words together. “I mean… you took me away from the Malfoy house when I was a baby because you wanted to teach me, someone who would grow up to be very powerful, powerful enough to destroy cities if I wanted to, the… right way. The good way. But I’ve never had a chance to even see what's on the other side. I’m not saying that I want to join the Death Eaters, I know the horrible things they do, and you’ve told me all of the horrible things they believe, but aren’t I supposed to see for myself? This is my life, and these are my powers, aren’t I supposed to decide how I use them? And, for that matter, what if I decide I don’t want to fight at all? Does that mean that everything you’ve done has been for nothing?”

“Not for nothing!” Remus immediately replied, eyes sparkling. “We wanted a child and we got you! The most amazing thing in the world and we love you! If you decide not to fight or if, Merlin forbid, you decide to fight for the other side, we will still love you.”

“Then why should it matter if Narcissa ‘converts me’?”

“Draco, you aren’t a bad person, you’re a good person, I don’t want you being fed evil ideas.”   
  


“But shouldn’t I decide if they’re evil on my own? Don’t you trust me to make the right decision here?”

“It’s not about decision.” Remus started knitting his hands together in a stressed gesture. “She’s your mother, your  _ biological _ mother, that leaves a magical bond. I fear that she’ll… I don’t know, make some kind of mark on you.”   


Draco could feel himself beginning to cry. He remembered his mother’s soft face and her kind eyes and ached just a little bit. But he forced the tears back. He’d done enough crying for one day. “Please let me see her. You can even be in the room if you want to. Make sure we stay on a safe topic.” Remus stood up and started pacing the end of the bed. “How would you feel if someone was keeping you away from your mother?”

Remus shot him a pained look and continued pacing. Draco knew that Grandma Hope was dead now and that Remus missed her terribly. 

“Dad, please.”

Remus sighed and finally slowed his pace to a stop. After a few seconds of Draco watching his father gnaw on his cheek, Remus finally spoke in a hoarse, tired voice. “Fine.” 

Draco lit up. He imagined Narcissa’s face as he walked in. She would be so happy to see her son. “Thank you.”

“But I’m coming in with you. I’ll stop her if she starts spouting nonsense.”

Draco grinned. “Okay.”

Remus didn’t stay for very much longer. He noticed the time and decided that his son needed to sleep.

“‘Night, Draco.” he whispered as he kissed him on the forehead.

“‘Night, dad.” 

Remus had left by the time that Draco was fast asleep.

A few mornings later, it was confirmed that Draco was fit and ready to return to the real world. He was detached from his little potions trolley and slipped on some real sloths, muggle clothes, actually, he had found a strange fondness for them. Instead of reading Wizarding magazines, which would only be printing the story of the Quidditch match over and over for weeks, Draco spent his endless, empty hours at the hospital reading Muggle fashion magazines that Harry brought him, and realised that Muggle clothes were much more fashionable than Wizarding robes. 

So Draco threw on a pair of blue jeans, a white button up shirt and a grey jumper (that Harry said brought out his eyes) and looked in the grimy, hospital mirror. He looked cool. 

Draco was smiling all morning as he knew what the plans for the afternoon were. The family would grab lunch at a Muggle cafe, so as to avoid the Wizarding tabloids, and then would return to St Mungos so that Remus and Draco could visit Narcissa. 

The Muggle cafe was interesting. Draco tried a thing that they called ‘pizza’. Both he and Sirius were perplexed by it and continued to ask questions about how it was made and what was in it. Harry and Remus laughed at them and answered their questions with shit-eating grins. 

When they returned to St Mungos, Remus and Draco were given visitors' badges and led down a long corridor that Draco didn’t honestly remember ever seeing before, even though he had apparently been found wandering around in it. 

They arrived at Narcissa’s door and gave each over nervous looks as the Mediwitch opened the door for them. Similarly to last time Draco was here, Narcissa’s bed was surrounded by meshy curtains that kept her from view. 

“Lucius!” Draco heard her say behind the curtain, and he deflated. He didn’t remember much from the night he met his mother but he did remember that. 

“It’s not Lucius, Mrs Malfoy.” said the Mediwitch. 

“Liar!” Narcissa screamed and Draco’s blood ran cold. The Mediwitch shot them an apologetic look and ducked through the gap in the curtains. “LIAR! You’re just trying to keep him from me! LUCIUS!” she continued to howl and grunt as she presumably struggled against her restraints. 

Draco hesitantly peered through the curtains. “It’s me, mother.” he said, trying to keep his voice soothing and calm. She stopped struggling abruptly and stared at him for a few seconds before breaking out into a sparkling, breathtaking smile. When she smiled, Draco could see how beautiful she was, despite the tired eyes and pale skin, she still had youth and beauty in her smile.

“Draco.” she gasped and the restraints dissolved. She lifted up her arms to welcome him into a hug, which he gratefully accepted. Remus made a small noise of protest as he fell into her arms and breathed in the smell of hospital soap and clean sheets, but also something distinctly familiar that smelled like home. 

He sniffed against her shoulder. “Mother.”

They stayed in a tight hug for a little while longer and the Mediwitch had left before she pulled back and examined his face. “Now that I can see you in the light I can see what a beautiful boy you’ve grown up to be!” she said. The tip of her finger traced a light line across his brow and down his nose. “You look like Lucius when we first met. So kind, so giving.” 

Remus made a stifled, strangled noise and sat himself down on a chair. Narcissa turned to him with cold politeness. “You must be Mr Lupin.”

“Mr Lupin-Black, actually.” Remus corrected, his smile matched hers. 

“Right, I forget that you are in a relationship with my cousin.”

“We’re married.”

She sniffed and turned her nose up. Draco felt a small surge of anger which he dampened. He hadn’t even thought about the possibility that his mother, who was raised in rich, pureblood society, would have a problem with homosexuality. Looking back on the horrific stories Sirius had told him about the Black family, he realised he probably should have. 

He shook it off and returned to the present. He sat down on the plastic chair he occupied on his last visit and gazed up at his mother, who was once again gazing down at him. 

“How are you, Draco? Are these men raising you well?”

Draco smiled. “Very well. They are both wonderful people.”

Narcissa’s eye twitched slightly at people, most likely because she saw Remus as sub-human. Draco now realised that it would have been much better if Sirius had come. 

“How’s school? You have so much to tell me about your life!”

Draco didn’t tell his mother any of the adventures he and Harry had gotten themselves into. He actually thought it was best if he avoided the mention of Harry at all. Instead he told her that he was in Slytherin, which she smiled at, and that he was friends with Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, Theo Nott and Millicent Bulstrode, all of whom she approved of.

“What about Mr Crabbe and Mr Goyle, they’re in your year, aren’t they?”

Draco grimaced and laughed. “They aren’t very good company.”

Narcissa raised a brow. “It isn’t about company, son, it’s about connections.”

Draco gave her a soft but chiding look. “I think that after all these years apart, we have different views on friendship.”

She started lightly nibbling on her lip and then caught herself and stopped. “I suppose so... How’s Lucius?” The abrupt change of subject threw Draco for a loop. 

“Lucius?”

“Yes, have you seen him?”

Draco gave his dad a sidelong look. Remus shook his head at him, don’t tell her, it seemed to say. “No, I haven’t.”

“Is he still in Azkaban?”

Draco again looked to his father, who nodded with a pointed look. “Yes.”

Narcissa turned to glare at Remus. “You haven’t taken this boy to see his father?”

Remus glared back. Draco was quite shocked at his dad’s temper, especially over the past few days, he was usually so calm and collected. “No, I haven’t taken my son to see a man who was imprisoned for murdering and torturing Muggles.”

“He is  _ not _ your son.”

“He is by law.”

“Not by blood. By blood he is mine. Mine and Lucius’ and it is barbaric that you never let them meet.”   


“I wasn’t letting Draco anywhere near that hellhole. My husband’s life was ruined because of that place.”

“You disgust me. You’re a half-blood, half-breed, homosexual and you are raising  _ my _ child.”   


“Hey!” Draco yelled. “Don’t you dare call him those things!”   


“Look what you’ve done!” Narcissa continued yelling to Remus but was gesturing at Draco. “You have brainwashed my son!”   


The restraints clamped down on Narcissa’s wrists and ankles and Draco moved over to the corner where his father was sitting. 

“Lets go.” he sighed despairingly as he watched his mother desperately writhe and thrash against her bed. “You were right.”

Remus grabbed Draco’s hand and kept a tight hold of it until they were out of the room. 

“I’m sorry, dad.” said Draco, staring at the floor. 

“It’s fine, I should have let Sirius take you instead of insisting I do myself. He’s at the very least related to her.”

“We shouldn’t have come at all. I see that now.”

Remus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, I understand why you wanted to see your mother. I’m just sorry she wasn’t what you thought she’d be.”

“She told me she wasn’t mad.” said Draco in a small voice.

Remus laughed despite the situation and smiled at his son, a deep exhaustion carving dark shadows onto his face. “Lets go get Sirius and Harry. We’ll go home and I’ll make us all hot chocolate.”   
“Can we have those Muggle pancake things for dinner? I saw them on the menu at the cafe.”

Remus sighed again. “Why not.” he conceded.

Draco smiled. But the day wasn’t over yet, as he saw a familiar face leaving a room up ahead.

“Neville?” 

The boy looked up at him and his eyes widened. 

“Draco, honey, let's leave him be, shall we?” said Remus in his ear. 

“No, it's fine.” said the old woman standing by Neville. Draco guessed by her attire, which he had seen on a boggart version of Snape in third year, that the woman was Neville’s grandmother. As Remus and Draco neared, she smiled down at Neville encouragingly. “Come on, boy, it’s alright.” Neville looked less scared than he had, but seemed to be hiding something behind his back. “Oh, it’s you, Mr Malfoy. We’ve been seeing you in the papers.”

Draco froze and waited for the woman to decide that she didn’t actually want her grandson to be speaking to him.

“Everyone is saying you’re a bad person, but I think it’s ridiculous.” she said simply, smiling up at Remus. “You stopped a group of Death Eaters from hurting people. It doesn't matter how you did it, it matters that you did. You’re a hero.” 

Draco smiled awkwardly. “Thank you.” He returned his gaze to Neville. “Hello.” he said.

Neville looked at him shyly. They had never spoken much at school, but Draco knew Neville to be an incredible Herbologist and would very much like to be better friends with him.

“Hello.” Neville shared a small smile.

Remus had engaged himself in small talk with Neville’s grandmother to break the awkward silence, but Draco still couldn’t come up with anything to say to Neville.   
“If you don’t mind my asking, who are you visiting?” he settled on asking. 

Neville bet his lip and stared at the floor, everyone was doing that recently. Neville’s grandmother’s attention had been caught. 

“It’s alright, boy, you can tell him.” she said.

“M-my p-parents.” Neville mumbled.

Realisation dawned on Draco. He had forgotten what had happened to Neville’s parents. He gave the boy a reassuring smile anyhow.

“I’m visiting my mother.” he said, hoping it would take Neville’s attention away from his own parents.

The boy looked at him, confused. “I thought you had two dads.”

Draco chuckled. “My biological mother.”

“Oh.” 

Silence fell once more and the only thing filling it was a small rustling coming from behind Neville’s back. His grandmother snatched whatever it was up and held it to the light. It was a sweet wrapper. 

“Oh, Neville.” she chided. “Why do you keep these every time she gives them to you? They’re worthless.”

Neville continued to stare at the ground until the begrudgingly gave it back and he continued to fiddle with it. 

Remus assumed control of the situation. “Ah.” he said, peering at his watch. “We’re late to meet with Sirius and Harry. Have a lovely day.” He shook Neville and his grandmother’s hands and departed with Draco, leading them down the hall. 

On the way home, Draco found his thoughts drifting to Neville. 

“Are you alright?” said Harry, when they were lying in bed together that night. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Harry was lying on Draco’s chest and Draco had his arm around him. He kissed Harry’s hairline. 

“I’m really sorry about your mother.” he whispered. And in all honesty, Draco had been thinking about her too. 

“It’s fine, really.”

“It’s not. She was horrible to Remus. That must have been awful to watch.”

Draco brought Harry closer to him and revelled in his warmth, which was strangely comforting rather than unsettling, as it probably should have been, all things considered. Holding Harry didn’t feel like he was burning, instead he felt like the warmth of a hot chocolate settling in his stomach, or the warmth of the sun of a Spring morning, or a scented candle at Christmas. He smelled like cinnamon and lavender in the sun and a distinctly Harry smell that was even more familiar than his mother’s. He breathed him in.

“I love you, you know that?”

Harry seemed to visibly relax. “I know. I love you too.”


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realised how bloody long this is going to be. It's already the length of the first one and they aren't even at Hogwarts yet lol
> 
> Extra chapter because I felt like it
> 
> Tell me what you want from this fic (couples, stupid tropes I could fit in the background) It's going to have a happy ending because I don't have the stomach for a sad one, but it is going to be pretty angsty along the way so tell me some fluff you'd like to see to soften the blow :)

Every morning of the rest of the holidays began with Harry, Remus, Draco and Sirius sifting through a flurry of newspapers, each continuing to report on the Quidditch match. They couldn’t leave the house without disillusionment charms or Harry and Draco huddling under the invisibility cloak for fear that they would be bombarded by reporters. 

One specific report, Rita Skeeter, had it in for Draco. She repeatedly brought up his lineage, Remus’ lycanthropy, and called his powers unnatural and dangerous. She claimed that Harry was being brainwashed by Draco and his family to one day team up with You-Know-Who. 

Dumbledore insisted that no one should know about Harry’s powers until he had them under control. He believed that if the public knew there were two children of prophecy living in the world, one being the son of a Death Eater and the other being The Boy Who Lived, there would be public outrage.

Which was true, but Harry hated watching Draco wince every morning as he saw the birds land on the window. He was pretending it didn’t bother him but it clearly did. 

To cheer him up, he and Harry flipped through The Quibbler every morning and became rapid fans. Such big fans they were of it that when they visited the Weasleys for Sunday lunch one week, they insisted on visiting the Lovegoods.

With Ron, Hermione and Ginny in tow, Harry and Draco walked down the trail that led to the Lovegood’s house and knocked on the door, for it to be opened by a girl with platinum blonde hair and sparkly, purple earrings.

“Hello.” she said in a wispy voice with a smile.

“Hi.” said Draco. “You’re Luna, right?” 

The girl nodded. “And you’re Draco.” She paused and watched him intensely for a few prolonged seconds, in which Ron started exploring the garden, which seemed to be growing some kind of plant that Draco had never heard of. “Your head looks like a Nargle hive.” 

Draco subconsciously touched his head and scrunched his brow. “Does it?”

“Yes. I have some Moon Frog Juice on the stove if you want to come in for a cup? It should really help with the Nargles.” 

Draco grinned at Harry. “I would love some, thank you.” 

Luna beamed. “Wonderful. And would your friends like some too?”

Harry, Hermione and Ginny smiled politely and nodded as Ron yelled, “What’s in it?”

Luna watched him. “He doesn’t have many Nargles, I doubt he needs it.” She opened the door further and welcomed them all in, introducing herself to Harry and Hermione, remarking on their Nargle count. 

After marvelling at the decor, which was odd but strangely welcoming, they sat themselves down on the sofa by the stove and watched as Luna poured some misty, steaming liquid into six cups.

“We came because we wanted to talk to you.” said Draco.

“What about?” 

“Well, I suppose I wanted to thank you for the articles you’ve been writing about me in your magazine.”

Luna beamed again, it was very contagious when she did that. “You’ve been reading The Quibbler?” 

Harry nodded eagerly. “It’s our favourite magazine.”

Luna’s smile faltered for a moment. “You aren’t making fun of it, are you?”

Draco slapped Ron as he snorted and shook his head fervently. “Not at all. I’m genuinely grateful that you’re so kind to me about all of this. I know it looks really bad.”

Luna handed out each cup. Ginny and Hermione took a tentative sip and Ron sniffed at it suspiciously. Draco peered at the liquid. It looked not too dissimilar from the mist that surrounded the prophecy. He clicked his cup with Harry’s and took a sip. It wasn’t bad at all. Almost fizzy, like lemonade. 

“Not from where I’m sitting.” said Luna.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

“It seems to me that Draco is just being possessed by Ice, the spirit. That can easily be fixed by befriending them.”

Harry and Draco stiffened and Ron huffed incredulously. “I’m sorry, a spirit?” Like the general public, Ron was aware of the prophecy. It was made public knowledge by the Ministry of Magic when Grindelwald, a famous child of Ice, lost control of his powers and ended up killing a lot of his own followers and was deemed more dangerous than ever. But the concepts of Fire and Ice were always interpreted as personifications of the powers, rather than actual spirits who could possess people. However, some people interpreted it differently. 

“Yes, don’t you know the prophecy?”

“Of course I know the prophecy, but Ice isn’t a real person. Ice is just a power that is randomly given to someone every few generations.” Ron scoffed, looking over to Ginny who rolled her eyes at him.

“I don’t think so. I was told a story by my mother as a child. Apparently Fire and Ice were real people originally and loved each other very much, but they fell victim to their carnal, human desire for conflict and grew to hate each other. But she always told me that love was stronger than hate, so the way I see it, Draco, you should be kind to Ice who is living inside of you. They just want a home and someone to be kind to them.”

Draco nodded slowly and took a long drink from his Moon Frog Juice. 

“Thanks, Luna.” Harry supplied for him. He noticed that Hermione was watching Luna in utter fascination. 

“Your Nargles have definitely lessened, Draco.” said Luna. 

Draco smiled. “It feels like it.”

“Over the next few days you may start to feel fuzzy in your head but that’s just the Nargles leaving.”

***

Finally, the day came when Draco and Harry were set to meet their friends at Hogsmeade station and leave their Remus and Sirius at the cottage in the village. 

As they stood on the platform, saying their goodbyes, they were surrounded by whispers and points from students around them, who had surely been reading the Prophet over the Summer. Remus and Sirius did their best to shield it, but Draco knew, he could feel their stares creeping up his spine.

"Alright, are you sure you have everything?" Remus asked, ever the mother hen. "If you've forgotten something, just owl and I'll drop it up to the school."

Draco watched his father fussing over them. He hoped that at some point, Remus would want to brave the horrific task of trying to find a job, but the chances of him actually getting a job were low. Also, he had enough on his plate to worry about. Still, it tortured Draco to think about his father wasting away at home on his own, day in, day out, seeing his husband off to work, cleaning the house, making dinner. None of it fit the image he had of Moony, brave, clever, educated Moony who tried his entire school life to make up for his lycanthropy, and yet he still was treated so awfully.

Draco surged forward for a hug, catching the grown man mid-sentence. Remus hugged back with ferocity. Over Remus' shoulder, Draco could see the terrified glances of his fellow students and the words of disdain and fear forming on their lips as their turned to their friends and gestured to him. It was as though he was an exhibit in a museum, they didn't even care if he saw.

It all grew to be too much and Draco buried his head in Remus' neck and allowed the hot tears to fall for just a moment. _He didn't want to go._

When he pulled back, his eyes were red and he glared down at the ground, willing his heartbeat to slow. He turned to Sirius and engulfed him in a hug also.

"You know, Star..." Sirius murmured in his ear. "You have no idea how much I want to just take you back home and let Remus give you a hot chocolate and... send a letter to Dumbledore telling him you'll be taking your classes at home this year."

Draco pulled back. "Why won't you?" he replied, half-joking.

Sirius hesitated. "Because the world is shit. Because you are my son, and you are so much better than all of these idiots." He gestured to the conglomeration of snarky schoolchildren behind him. "You are going to make it through this year, just as you made it through every other year, because you are strong enough." He sighed and looked at Harry, who was saying his farewells to Remus. "And... I know I was a little harsh with him... but he's a very good kid. The most lovely one I think you could have been friends with. I'm glad you have him. And for what its worth, I'm glad he has you. Through all the obstacles this universe is throwing at you, you get along remarkably well."

Draco offered a wet chuckle. "What about the war?" he asked.

Sirius looked at him, feigning confusion before thinking better of it. He gnawed on his lip. "I guess we're going to have to face that when we come to it, won't we?"

Hogwarts was looming just over Sirius' shoulder and Draco stared at it, a place which had once seemed hopeful and good sort of grew faded with each year Draco entered. Through the buzz of excitable students, Draco could hear the sounds of someone yelling his name excitedly.

"Draco! Harry!" it said. He looked up to see Ron, Hermione, Fred and George, Ginny, Luna and Neville shoving their way past luggage and people to get to their group. 

"I'll see you later, Star." said Sirius. Draco looked up at his father.

"See you later." he smirked. 

Harry grasped his shoulder momentarily and they surged forward, trying not to think about whatever the hell they were walking into. 


	14. Chapter Thirteen

At the Welcome Feast, Dumbledore announced the Triwizard Tournament and Harry and Draco pretended to be surprised.

“Isn’t it exciting?” said Pansy with her cat-like grin. Harry had missed her, oddly enough, she had just been beginning to soften up when school ended last year. “I hear Beauxbatons boys are gorgeous.”

“I thought you’d be more excited about Viktor Krum.” observed Draco slyly. 

Pansy scrunched up her nose. “No. I don’t think I like Quidditch Players.”

Draco snorted. “I definitely do.” 

He gave Harry a light elbow under the table. The Slytherins had never been too fond of Harry and Draco’s relationship before, and they hadn’t exactly been subtle in the way they had shown their affection, but now they were officially, _officially_ boyfriends and they were both a little nervous to announce this to the group, especially seeing as most of them came from homophobic, pure-blood families. 

“You’re getting your hopes up, Pans. I doubt any of them will look twice at us, we’re too young for them to be interested.” said Blaise.

“They might look at Draco, now he’s in the papers and everything.” 

Surprisingly, the Sytherins had taken very kindly to the events of the Quidditch match, and treated him not dissimilarly to how they would treat the Minister for Magic were he at the table, with awe and reverence. Draco immediately snapped at them to stop their ‘spineless ass-kissing’ and they had, but it was clear that they all thought Draco was an all powerful, dark warlock now, which angered Harry immensely. 

“Oh yeah, Drake. Which school are you most excited about. The pretty girls from Beauxbatons or the strong, feisty ones from Durmstrang?” Blaise asked, smirking.

Draco rolled his eyes. “I hate how you objectify them. Pansy, I’m sure _you_ can’t be okay with this.”

“Don’t be annoying.” Pansy giggled. “They can’t hear you.”

“And what about the Boy Who Lived, huh?” 

Harry glared at the pair menacingly. “What about the Boy Who Lived?”

“Who is he most excited to see? Or have you already seen them?” Blaise quickly glanced at Draco and gave Harry a pointed look.

“Blaise, if you don’t butt out of my business, I’m afraid I’ll have to tell everyone in school that you sleep with a teddy bear, is that what you want?” Draco snapped.

Blaise stuck out his toungue and Pansy snickered and shoved him playfully. 

"You sleep with a teddy bear?"

"So! Who do we think the champions will be?" said Blaise loudly in an abrubt change of subject. 

And thus the group launched into a conversation about the champions that carried them until it was time to get to bed. Harry and Draco decided through a series of pointed looks that they should sleep in their own beds, which was something they hadn’t done since Draco was in the hospital, and it made Harry slightly uneasy. But he calmed himself through a series of deep breaths that mingled with the sounds of sleep coming from his roommates. 

***

Defense with Mad-Eye Moody wasn’t scheduled for the fourth year Slytherins until Wednesday and they were to share it with the Hufflepuffs. Moody had made quite the impression already when he showed up late to the Welcoming Feast. 

Draco hadn’t been too bothered though, honestly. As a matter of fact, he admired the dramatic flair of it all and probably would have done the same thing. He also knew vaguely what he was to expect from this new professor, courtesy of his dads warning him of Moody’s strange temper. 

What unnerved him was what unnerved him when he was younger, and what perhaps was unnerving him as he sat in the courtyard on a bench next to Harry, that Moody’s swivelling eye never left their them, and seemed to dart between them sporadically. 

“It’s like, I know _why_ he’s looking at us, but I so wish he wouldn’t.” Draco explained with a pained expression. 

“I don’t understand why he’s looking at _Harry_.” said Pansy, who was sitting at his feet charming the tips of her hair different colours. 

“Why is that strange? Harry’s _Harry_.” 

“Your command of the English language never ceases to amaze me, Blaise.” said Draco, smirking. 

“ _What I mean is_ , he’s an Auror! And a Professor! He should have known he’d be teaching Harry Potter, and he shouldn’t be getting starstruck.” 

Draco surveyed the man with a cautious eye. He was standing with his back turned to them but Draco could feel the magical eye piercing through his skull and staring directly at him. “Why do I get the feeling that he isn’t starstruck?”

Harry turned to him. “What could it be?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t like it.”

“Maybe he’s worried you’ll kill him, Draco.” suggested Blaise, which earned him a kick in the side. “ _Bloody hell!_ What was that for?”

“I didn’t like what you were insinuating.”

“You don’t think about it?”

“About killing Harry? No!”

“Not about killing Harry! I mean, about what Death Eaters and Aurors must think of you!”

Draco glared down at him. “Well, you know Death Eaters better than I do. Enlighten me.”

Pansy turned to look at Draco with big, dark eyes and rubbed his leg soothingly. “Draco, honey,” she began in a timid voice. “don’t be angry with Blaise.”

“I’m not angry with Blaise, I’m angry with this whole stinking business!”

“Draco, keep your voice down.” Pansy said, glancing at Moody, who had now turned completely around and was staring at the group head on. 

Draco lowered his voice. “I’m angry at being constantly accused of being a Death Eater.”

“You can’t blame them, sweetheart.”

“Don’t ‘sweetheart’ me!”

Harry put a soothing hand on his back that he flicked away immediately. He also kicked away Pansy’s annoying rubbing of his knee. He stood up.

“What’s the time?”

Blaise checked his watch. “Half an hour until next period.”

“I’m going for a walk then, don’t follow me.”

He could feel someone coming up being him and turned sharply to glare them away but found that it was Harry, a concerned look painting his features. 

“What is it?” he snapped.

“Draco, I think you know what’s happening right now.”

Draco sneered and continued to walk away but Harry pursued him, and now Draco could feel someone watching them. “Moody.” he sighed and turned to find the Professor behind a nearby tree. “Is there a reason you’ve been watching me?” Draco called out to him. 

Harry tugged on his arm and whispered an insistent “ _Draco_.” in his ear, which Draco ignored. 

The man ducked out from behind the tree and faced him head on. “I think you know full well there’s a reason.”

“Are you keeping an eye on me? Making sure I don’t hurt anyone?” said Draco.

“You’re a ticking time bomb, kid.”

“If Dumbledore thinks it’s safe for me to still attend Hogwarts, you should trust his decision.” Draco didn’t actually think this was true, but thought it held more weight than ‘my dads, the werewolf and the ex-convict, would think you’re being really mean’. “Now, I’m going for a walk, quit watching me. And Harry too, for that matter.” 

He was about to stride off when, completely unprompted, Mad-Eye produced a wand and his vision blurred. Quite suddenly, he was half a foot high and being repeatedly bounced up and down. He was being trashed against the floor at a pace for about half a minute when finally, his vision and height returned to normal and the thrashing stopped.

“Professor Moody!” came a Scottish, shrill scream. Thank Merlin, McGonagall had arrived. From the looks of things, she was in the middle of giving him a good telling off. “We do _not_ use transfiguration as a punishment on students! Dumbledore should have told you that!”

“He was being disrespectful, Professor.” came Moody’s reply.

“That is not an excuse!” 

A good crowd of students had gathered to watch this scene and Draco nudged Harry in the ribs. “‘The hell did he do?” he said through gritted teeth.

Harry cringed. “He… turned you into a ferret.”

“A FERRET?” 

“Mr Malfoy, will you keep your voice down?” said McGonagall.

“Keep my voice down? He turned me into a ferret and smashed me into the ground! I’m pretty sure I have bruises!” Draco could feel the ice thrumming through his fingertips, itching to be used against Moody. He could just picture what he would do as revenge but his thoughts were interrupted by McGonagall and Harry each taking an arm and dragging him out of the way. 

“What about me?” said Moody.

“I will deal with you later!” 

When Draco had stopped seething, they loosened their grip and just held onto his forearms firmly. They were escorting him to McGonagall’s office, it seemed, and when they finally sat him down on her office settee, McGonagall looked as though she’d aged about ten more years. 

“Mr Malfoy,” she began, sitting herself down in a tartan armchair. “What on Earth was that?” 

“Where do you want me to start?”

“Perhaps at what you did to make Professor Moody so angry?”

Draco sighed. “He was watching me, I didn’t like it. And then he started following me, so I told him to quit it. Then he turned me into a ferret.”

McGonagall closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked at Harry. “Would you care to give me a better explanation than this? Perhaps with a tad more detail.”

Harry faithfully recounted the lunchtimes’ events. Once he had finished, Professor McGonagall leaned back in her chair, stared at the ground and seemed to ponder the story. At some point, she came to a resolution and produced her wand, using it to conjure a tartan biscuit tin and a tea set.

“Help yourselves, boys.” she said in a tired voice. 

Harry did, he poured himself a steaming cup of tea and selected a dog shaped shortbread biscuit. Draco, however, wasn’t paying attention, he was still seething from the encounter and needed some form of release. The ice beneath his skin was bursting for it. 

“I’ll be owling your parents about this - I mean, Mr and Mr Lupin-Black.”

Harry cleared his throat and took a sip of tea, presumably to distract himself from the mistake McGonagall made. “Of course, go right ahead. I’ll probably send them my version of events too.”

McGonagall nodded and glanced at Draco. “Are you okay, Mr Malfoy?”

When Draco didn’t respond, just continued glowering at the window, Harry filled in. 

“He’s currently experiencing massive outbursts of anger, Professor. We’ve been observing his behaviour over the past few weeks and it seems that he just needs release every now and then.”

McGonagall nodded. “Yes, Dumbledore did say something like that. What should we do?”

“I don’t really know. Maybe if Draco had a place he could go to when he needs to let off some steam?”

“I’ll firecall Dumbledore.” she said, crossing over to the fireplace. “Although it seems to be that we have a very convenient place right on the school grounds that Mr Lupin-Black used when he was in school.” 

“The Shrieking Shack.”

“Precisely.” She called Dumbledore’s office and asked him to come through. When he did, he also tried to break Draco’s still mask to no avail.

“Professor Moody turn him into a ferret?” said Dumbledore to McGonagall. Her lip quirked before replying.

“Yes, he did.”

“What do you need, Minerva?” he asked.

“I think Draco needs a place to practise his powers, and Harry too for that matter. We can’t have them holed up in the castle day-in, day-out, they’ll end up hurting someone.”

“What about the Shrieking Shack?”

McGonagall nodded. “That was exactly our thinking, I just needed your permission to get to work fireproofing it, perhaps expanding it. We don't want Draco and Harry close to each other when they lose control at the same time.”

“Separate rooms?”

“We’ll discuss the details later.”

“Umm, Professor?” said Harry, breaking into the conversation. The Professors turned to him simultaneously.

“Yes, Mr Potter?”

“I think Draco needs to let off some steam right now.” he said, glancing at his boyfriend, who was biting on his lower lip so hard it looked like he could draw blood. “Is there anywhere we can go?”

“We?”

“Maybe I should be there?”

“Maybe not.”

“We don’t have time to argue, Mr Malfoy is about to explode!” said Dumbledore, for once being a voice of reason.

McGonagall sighed. “Take him to the Forbidden Forest, but don’t go too far in and try to avoid Hagrid’s Care of Magical Creatures class. Also, if any of the creatures who live in the forest approach you, explain the situation. They know all about it and are very good about it. Well, most of them, we’ll keep Hagrid on high alert.”

So Harry rushed Draco to the forest and they entered through the back. The second they were far enough in that the sun was weak through the trees, Draco pretty much exploded. 

In a series of rabid screams or anger and emotion, and wave after wave of icy attacks on trees and plants, Draco allowed the irritation to channel into powerful snowstorms. 

When he was finished, Harry had to admit, he was slightly turned on, but it didn’t matter, because Draco lay limp against a tree, coated in frost. Tears were streaming down his face but he seemed unaware of them.

Harry approached slowly and calmly sat himself down beside him. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah.” said Draco breathlessly. “Just… a lot of emotion, y’know?” Draco reached for Harry’s hand and weaved their fingers together. “It hasn’t been that bad since the Quidditch match, usually I can calm it down.”

“I know.”

“It’s getting worse.”

Harry shrugged. “It could just be Moody.”

Draco snorted. “Fuckin’ hate him.”

“We have Defense with him on Wednesday.”

Draco groaned. “Merlin.”

“I can’t wait for this to happen to me.” said Harry sarcastically.

Draco _hmmed_. “It’s quite nice, actually. It feels like taking a really big poop.”

Harry snorted and doubled over. “What?” he said through giggles.

“It is!” said Draco. “It’s that same kind of release!”

“A really big poop?”

“Yep. It’s great.”

They continued giggling until they finally got to Herbology, for which they were severely late for, but McGonagall had sorted out everything so it wasn’t an issue, but they were given extra homework to catch up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello how is everyone
> 
> I baked a cake today and its frickin awesome. Some may say its just a basic sponge, but I know better. This cake transcends time and space itself. 
> 
> As I was baking this transcendent cake I thought to myself, what would Amortentia smell like to me? And then I thought, I wonder what Amortentia would smell like for my readers...
> 
> So what do you guys think Amortentia would smell like to you? Most appetising answer wins an imaginary slice of my awesome cake. 
> 
> I think to me it would smell like melting chocolate, the mango body scrub from the body shop and something floral like rose or something. 
> 
> Have a lovely evening/day/night/morning whatever time it is when you're reading, and i'll see you when I next decide to post a chapter, or perhaps in the comments section. :)


	15. Chapter Fourteen

As Draco filed into his first Defense class of the year, he was being watched warily by not one but two parties, Harry and Moody. Both of them seemed to be waiting for an outburst, but Draco wasn’t going to give it to them. After all, McGonagall was going to be showing Harry and Draco the new and improved Shrieking Shack after the class was over, so there was something to keep his mind occupied as he tried not to murder his professor.

At least that was what he thought, but it proved to be increasingly difficult when the man began talking about Unforgivables.

“...I’m not supposed to be showing you illegal Dark curses until sixth year. But Professor Dumbledore-”

“Of course ‘Professor Dumbledore’” muttered Harry. Draco snickered.

Moody’s real eye flicked to the pair momentarily, cleared his throat and continued. “Professor Dumbledore’s got a higher opinion of your nerves.”   


“I wonder if he’s got a higher opinion of our nerves because he left us to deal with the basilisk and Quirrell.” mused Harry under his breath. Draco snickered again, a little louder, it was rather out of character for Harry to be so sassy, that was usually Draco’s job.

“How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you’ve never seen? A wizard who’s about to put an illegal curse on you isn’t going to tell you what he’s about to do.” Moody surveyed the class. “So… do you know any of the curses most heavily punished by wizard law?”

Draco calmly raised his hand with a challenging air, other hands raised more tentatively, such as Pansy’s and some of the Hufflepuffs. Moody avoided Draco’s hand completely and zeroed in on a Hufflepuff at the back.

“My mum told me something about the Imperius Curse?” the boy offered, voice trembling. “You can get people to do anything.”

“Perhaps not the most descriptive of explanations but that is the general gist.” Moody produced from his desk a jar that held three large, black spiders, tickling at the sides, begging to be set free. Draco narrowed his eyes and nudged Harry.

“What?” Harry asked him in a hushed tone.

“There are three unforgivable curses.” Draco replied. “I think we’re about to get a demonstration.”

Moody selected one of the spiders and gingerly let it out onto his desk. He pointed his wand at it.

“ _ Imperio _ .” he muttered. The spider began to leap around the classroom, onto walls, portraits, jars and even student’s heads. He steadfastly avoided Harry and Draco, mind, but that was probably because Draco was glaring at Moody suspiciously. 

Laughter and giggled erupted from the class and Moody chuckled along until he said in a low but commanding voice, “You think this is funny?” and everyone continued to giggle, in anticipation for the spider to perform some new trick, but Moody brought it up to the front and flipped the spider onto its back. Everyone watched in anticipation for something funny to happen, but instead the creature tore at itself, dissecting its own midsection with its eight legs. 

“Not so funny now, is it?” He chucked the tortured spider out the window and ceased the spell, turning to face his class who were no longer laughing, instead staring at the space the spider had occupied in grim shock. “And what if someone did that to you?” There was a heavy silence as the group returned to their seats. “Now, who knows any of the other spells?” 

Nobody raised a hand, they were all stunned to quiet. Moody allowed his magical eye to traverse the children. 

“You.” he said, pointing at Blaise. “Tell me another of the curses.”

Blaise visibly swallowed and set his jaw. “The Cruciatus Curse.” he said, voice low and tired. 

“And what does the Cruciatus Curse do?”

The air was thick and still as Blaise answered. “Inflicts great pain upon the recipient.”

Draco watched from the corner of his eye as Harry cringed and turned away. He sought out his hand under the table and gripped it, summoning every ounce of courage he had to watch the proceedings. 

Moody selected one of the remaining spiders and placed it on the table, with ironic care and delicacy, and pointed his wand at it. “ _ Engorgio _ .” he cast, and Draco tensed as the spider grew. “ _ Crucio _ .” 

Moody allowed the spider to thrash and curl up on the table for thirty seconds before Draco had seen enough. 

“Alright, we get it.” he snapped. Moody turned to him menacingly, ceasing the spell. Draco heard Harry’s sharp intake of breath and felt the urgent squeezes on his hand, but he did not back down.

Moody was glaring at him head on, with both eyes, his scared mouth twisted into something rotten and foul. “What is the last spell, Mr Malfoy?” he asked. 

Draco clenched his jaw. “I don’t know.”

“You of all people in this class, save for Mr Potter of course, should know what it is.” Moody growled. “I saw you put up your hand before, so smarmy and eager. You know it, tell us.” 

Draco could feel Harry’s eyes on him stronger than anyone else’s. He squeezed his hand in apology and sighed, defeated. “The Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra.”

Moody allowed the edges of his scarred mouth to turn upwards in a sick imitation of a smile. “Bravo, Mr Malfoy.” 

“Draco.” Harry murmured. Draco turned to him. But the boy was staring at the final spider being let out from the jar. 

Moody raised his wand. “ _ Avada Kedavra _ .” And in a flash of green light, the spider fell to the ground in an anticlimactic  _ thump _ .

***

“We need to tell Sirius and Remus about that, right?” asked Harry worriedly as they left the classroom. 

“Yeah, I should think so.” Draco replied. “Urgh, I feel sick. Let's get some food from the Great Hall before we meet McGonagall.”

After hastily shovelling some food down their throats, much to the bemusement of Pansy and Blaise, Draco and Harry jogged down the corridor to find McGonagall standing near a statue of a young wizard boy holding a gnome in one hand and a leprechaun in the other and winking. 

“Mr Malfoy, Mr Potter,” she greeted. 

The boys chorused variations of “Hi miss.” and they set off.

“We have excavated an entrance for you two that is out of the common way, it is near the kitchens so no one should be bothering you.” They were walking down a well lit corridor that was filled with paintings. They walked past one of some pears and another of an old woman in a fuschia dress and cap. They stopped at a painting of two men, one of them sitting in a wooden chair and wearing deep red robes, behind him stood another man in white robes with his hand firmly on the other man’s shoulder. 

“As you can probably tell, this is an artistic rendition of Fire and Ice. We don’t know they were men, but the artist was a man in the 1800s, so you understand.” She traced her wand around the edges of the gilded frame and the portrait swung open like a door to reveal a long, torchlit passageway. “Follow me.” she commanded. 

As they trailed after their professor, Draco and Harry tried to bring up their last class. 

“Professor?” said Draco.

“Mr Malfoy?” 

“We were wondering…” Draco looked to Harry for reassurance. “What made Dumbledore want to hire Professor Moody?”

McGonagall stopped in her tracks and stared at Draco incredulously. “You mean, what made Dumbledore want to hire a qualified Auror as a Defense teacher after the horrors of the last three years?”

Draco hesitated. “We just…”

“He seems a little…” Harry trailed off.

“He seems a little what?”

Harry met her eyes. “Homicidal.”

A smile quirked McGonagall’s lips and she burst out into an incredulous giggle. It was very unnerving to see a woman so stoic laughed like a schoolgirl. 

“I think you boys are searching for trouble where there isn’t any.” she concluded. Harry and Draco simultaneously rolled their eyes. “I’m being serious. The past three years of your schooling lives have been filled with teachers possessed by dark wizards, giant serpents, reincarnations of that same dark wizard that possessed the first teacher, an escaped convict and, I don’t think it even is really worth mentioning, but I’ll do it anyway, powerful magical gifts and a prophecy that sentences your deaths, and you have been dealing with all of this as children. And because the universe isn’t always kind, this year you boys don’t get to let off steam by playing a sport you love, you have to watch children only years older than you engage in death-defying tasks. I understand why you want to find another mystery to occupy your thoughts, and I understand that it feels weird for nothing outwardly wrong is happening, but I need you, for this year at the very least, to just focus on being children and getting control over your powers so that nobody gets hurt.” With that she strutted off down the corridor again and Harry and Draco trailed behind helplessly. 

They shared a dark look. While McGonagall was substantially better than Dumbledore, the only people Draco and Harry could trust at Hogwarts was each other. 

They finally reached the Shrieking Shack not a minute later and were stunned by the insides. While they had never seen the original from the inside, the word ‘shack’ had suggested something small and perhaps old. But this room was anything but. It appeared a simple but shockingly large hall with concrete floors and whitewashed walls until McGonagall waved her wand and presented to the boys the intricacies of the shielding system. 

There was a barrier, they could see now, separating both sides.

“This should be strong enough to withstand an attack, should either of you try to launch at the other side of the room, but we still don’t know the full capabilities of your powers so please try to be delicate with it. Perhaps try aiming towards the solid walls. We have allowed you an invisible barrier so that you may perhaps learn to study the other’s attack, to know when a hit is coming,” As she spoke, she paced along the barrier and cast some more strengthening charms, for safety’s sake. “We are hoping that you will learn to cast together, fighting on the same team. Together, you are strongest. Perhaps someday, we will lower the boundary and allow you to practise as a duo, but until then under no circumstances are you allowed to cross over onto each other’s side, understood?” 

Harry nodded but Draco lifted an eyebrow. “If I didn’t know you any better, Professor, I’d say you sound like you’re raising us to be brainless soldiers.”

McGonagall sighed sadly. “I despise myself for saying it, but you two are, from a technical standpoint, the greatest weapons on Earth. We don’t have a choice.”

Neither Draco nor Harry felt the need to ‘let off some steam’, surprisingly enough, so they were allowed to get back to their common rooms for bed. McGonagall explained the logistics of the security of the portrait and processed their wands and magical signatures to be recognised. 

She directed on how they should open the portrait, should they need to, and assured them that the use of the room was available to them at any point in the day. 

“What if Filch sees us in the middle of the night?” 

“He is under instructions to allow you to pass, but I hope you take the liberties we are granting you responsibly. You are only allowed out of your common room to come down here and then you must head straight to bed. It goes without saying that you are to tell no one of this, we don’t want widespread panic.”

“So we let you breed us to be mindless Death-Eater killing machines but we aren’t allowed to wander around the castle after our bedtimes?” said Draco, with undeniable snark.

“Please don’t make this any more difficult than it needs to be, Mr Malfoy.” said McGonagall. Her voice clearly let on that she was tired and sad, but Draco’s face let on that he didn’t care. 

Later that night, when the lights were out in the entire castle and Draco and Harry were holed up in Draco’s bed with the curtains closed and a muffling charm up, Draco had his head tilted so that he was staring at the ceiling, the top of his head resting against the wall, and Harry was flicking through a Quidditch magazine. They had been in this position for a while, and usually Harry would let his boyfriend think, but it wasn’t ending. He didn’t have to ask though, because just as he was about to, Draco spoke quietly.

“Do you ever think about what side you’re on?” he asked.

Harry tilted his head. “In Quidditch?”

Draco snorted lightly. “No, in the war.”

Harry shook his head. “No.”

Draco sat up and searched his eyes. “You never question the stuff they tell us?”

“No. Voldemort killed my parents, that is a known fact.” Harry sighed sadly. “I’m not going to fight on his side.”

“I’m not saying we should become Death Eaters, I wouldn't want to. I don’t want to be a lackey but I also don’t want to be a weapon, and that’s what we’ll be if we stay on the side we’re on.”

Harry analysed the boy across from him, he didn’t like the road he was on. “What exactly are you saying?”

“I’m saying… I-” Draco deflated. “There’s so much more out there than just good people and bad people. I don’t want to have to choose a side and fight in a war I didn’t even start.”

“We don’t know there’s going to be a war.”

“Harry. Get your head out of the clouds. If Voldemort has returned twice since the night he died, what’s to say he won’t again? I think the powers that be know that and you do too, you just don’t want to admit it.”

Harry exhaled a shake breath. “Alright, so say there is a war. Are you telling me that you don’t want to fight on the side your parents are on? Your teachers, your friends? You don’t want to fight for Hermione’s right to exist in this world? Or Remus’, for that matter?”

Draco shook his head vehemently. “That’s not what I’m saying, I haven’t decided anything yet, I was just asking you if you ever stop and think about the stuff they tell us. I mean, I was given to Remus and Sirius simply to ensure that I grew up as a member of this side! They didn’t take me in because they desperately wanted a child! They took me in because they were scared of what I would grow up to be if they didn’t! And since I was given to them, the gospel of this side is all that I have heard. That isn’t right! I should make up my own mind.”

“So you’re telling me that you are currently debating which side you’re going to fight on, Voldemort’s or Dumbledore’s, right?” said Harry, still trying to keep up with this confusing conversation. 

“No.” said Draco, shaking his head. “I’m deciding between Dumbledore’s side, and my side.”

“Your side?”

Draco nodded, eyes wide and shockingly light, they sparkled as the moonlight brushed against them. “Or it could be our side, if you wanted?” he said, turning to Harry.

Harry nibbled on his lip. In all honesty, he didn’t understand completely what Draco was saying, but he wasn’t quite sure he agreed with his point. 

“You’re tired.” he said, a smile lacing his quiet words. “Let’s sleep.”


	16. Chapter Fifteen

After sending off the letter to Sirius and Remus about Moody, Draco and Harry rushed down to breakfast and stuffed their faces.

“When did Dumbledore say the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students are coming?” asked Harry, chewing on a sausage.

Pansy’s eyes glittered. “30th October, there’s gonna be a welcoming feast.”

Draco furrowed his brow. “Shit, that’s in like three weeks.” He turned to Harry. “How the hell did that happen?”

Harry shrugged. “I’m just excited for it all to start, I’m sick of waiting around. It’s not like there’s any Quidditch to keep me entertained.”

“No, but there is a prophecy.” Draco murmured, just low enough that Pansy and Blaise couldn’t hear. He nudged him. “And a boyfriend.”

Harry grinned and tossed a bit of sausage at him. 

“When you two are done flirting…” said Pansy with a mischievous, cat like smirk. 

Draco and Harry snapped around to stare at her as though she had two heads and she laughed maniacally. “Your faces!”

Blaise watched over the proceedings with an air of polite amusement. “You were right, Pans, this is very funny.”

“Wait, what’s happening right now?” said Harry.

Draco was taking a while to turn sounds into actual words. “How do you two know?” 

Pansy rolled her eyes. “You weren’t exactly subtle!” 

“Yeah, you really weren’t.” said Blaise, lifting his eyebrow elegantly. “Why don’t we start with the kiss at last year’s Quidditch game, that you thought was hidden, but absolutely wasn’t,” Draco made a noise of indignation and Harry snorted disbelievingly. “Also, the fact that you two last year slept in the same bed more times than not, and last night I woke up in the middle of the night to see Harry’s bed empty, the curtains on Draco’s bed suspiciously closed and a muffling charm up.” He and Pansy shared a suggestive look. 

“You were doing it.”

“We were not!” Draco squawked. 

“Were too.” 

Draco flushed furiously crimson and Harry just continued laughing silently until he had to rest his head on the table for support. 

“I don’t see what you’re finding so funny, it was you who suggested keeping it a secret!”

Harry continued laughing as he spoke. “I hadn’t realised they were so observant.”

“Or that you two were so bad and keeping it hidden.” said Blaise. Draco flicked a bit of sausage at me. “Hey, just because you like sausages being flung at your ace doesn’t mean I do.”

The edges of Draco’s lips quirked slightly until he finally gave in and joined the laughter, which had brought in attention from Slytherins sitting either side of them. 

***

About a week later, Harry found himself alone in his own bed, a rare occurrence these days now that there was nothing to hide, but Draco and Harry decided mutually that just because they could sleep in the same bed all the time, didn’t mean they had to, lest their dorm mates thought they were mindless sex machines. 

It was the middle of the night, and he was finding it difficult to adjust to sleeping without a warm body next to him. He had tried counting sheep, making up stories in his head, even doing that meditation thing where you have to focus on different areas of your body, but that proved difficult in… other ways. 

So there Harry lay, gazing at the ceiling, wondering if he should just handle his problem on his own. He had before, obviously, but he hadn’t had to in a while. 

A thought nugget from a month or two ago began scratching at the back of Harry’s brain and he just could shake it off no matter how hard he’d tried. A conversation he’d had with Draco before his universe imploded. A conversation that he had turned over in his head repeatedly, until he could see no other way to end his own suffering than to see what Draco was talking about.

With a tortured sigh, Harry reached under his bed and found the Encyclopedia Draco had given him that one Christmas, and scrambled for his wand and glasses on his bedside table. 

He paused, just as the blank pages sat in front of him, waiting to be magically filled with text. He didn’t know what to say. What would one search for? Or, better yet, what was he hoping to see?

Draco had said… He shuddered. He almost didn’t want to remember what Draco had said, it sounded scary. But… also, not? 

Surely it wouldn’t hurt, he reasoned, if people were willing to do it. But then again, he knew nothing. Anything he knew about sex was about heterosexual sex and came from Dudley and his friends who had claimed that you could only get a woman pregnant if you had sex with her in a bath or hot tub, and he was pretty sure that wasn’t true because the Dursleys didn’t have a bath. 

His hand trembled slightly as he held it aloft. Suddenly, it occurred to him to shut his curtains and muffle them, not that he expected himself to be making any noise just for… safety’s sake.

He took a deep breath and tried the first thing that came to mind. 

_ Gay sex _ . He whispered, waving his wand over the pages. A warning appeared, written in curling red script.  _ Explicit - _ i t said. Well, he had assumed it would be.

He waved his wand over the message and the pages cleared, only to moments later show image after image of bodies moving together in positions that didn’t even look possible.

He jerked backwards and his eyes widened, but he was unable to look away. Soon, these images began to come into focus and move, as magical pictures were inclined to do. He focused on the first one, which seemed to be pretty simple, aside from the butt part - that part still seemed wrong.

He tried another search.  _ How do gay men have sex _ . Thankfully, the overwhelming pictures vanished from the page and were replaced by text. 

Harry read every paragraph with deep interest. It was rather fascinating, actually. It turned out that the butt part wasn’t that bad, if you were careful about it, and could actually be quite enjoyable. He paid special attention to all of the helpful advice the book was giving him about making sure it didn’t hurt, as that eased his nerves considerably.

Once he was well informed, he began to let his mind wander and soon his head was overflowing with interesting ideas and pleasing thoughts. He imagined he and Draco being that close, it was surely the closest two people could get without physically merging their bodies together. His stomach tingled. 

While the idea still seemed foreign and new and certainly scary, he quite liked the idea of putting so much trust in Draco. Harry smiled as he flipped onto his back, and dealt with his increasingly hard problem before drifting off to sleep, pleasantly sated and tingling. 

***

The next morning, however, Harry awoke to blinding pain like no other in his forehead. He gasped and pressed his hand to it, although it did no good. 

Thankfully, the muffling charm he had cast around his bed the night before, while by no means good when he cast it, had fully fallen off, meaning that Draco heard his cries and quickly scrambled over to him and yanked back the curtain. 

“Merlin, are you okay?” he yelped, taking in the sweating sight of Harry writhing and clutching a hand to his forehead. He felt for Harry’s temperature with the back of his hand, it was normal. “Do you have a headache or something?”

“It’s… my… scar.” Harry grunted out, the pain had engulfed his whole head now, stinging him behind the eyelids.

Draco seemed very panicked. “What can I do? Is there something I can do to help it? Has this happened before?”

But Harry didn’t get much of a chance to reply because as soon as the pain came, it was gone again, leaving Harry stunned and sweating. 

Draco was still babbling incoherently so Harry calmed him down. “It’s stopped now?” he said.

Draco stopped tearing his hair out and stared at him. “Seriously? You’re just… fine now?”

“Yeah. Yeah I think so.” Harry flopped back onto the bed. He was already ready to go back to sleep and it wasn’t even 7:30. “That was weird.”

“What do you think was going on?”

Harry closed his eyes. “I don’t know.”

Draco knelt down and started stroking Harry's hairline. “Should we tell Moony and Pads?” he asked quietly, most likely trying not to startle Harry into another attack.

Harry nodded tiredly and made a noise of agreement. 

“Do you want me to say you’re sick first period?” 

He nodded again.

Draco kissed his forehead. “I’ll get you breakfast when I go down.” 

“I might have a shower. I’m so sweaty.”

“If you’re still tired when you get out you can sleep in my bed. These sheets are all damp.”

Harry smiled tiredly and yawned. “Thank you.” 

Draco ruffled his hair and stood up. “I’m gonna go get dressed. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

***

It came to the point in the week when Draco and Harry were forced to endure the presence of Mad-Eye Moody in their Defense classes. The letter they had sent off to Sirius and Remus about the class was answered, but they were assumed vehemently of Mad-Eye’s reliability. When the response arrived at the table that breakfast, Draco and Harry exchanged a dark look, but vowed silently to continue observation of their Professor.

That was probably why Mad-Eye had waited a few weeks to whip this lesson out, because Draco would have most likely killed him if he’d used it directly after the horror of the first lesson. 

The Professor commanded the students to puns their desks against the wall and stand in the space watching him. Draco could already feel uncomfortable prickles all down his body as he eyed Mad-Eye suspiciously. 

“Today, I am going to be showing you in an explicit way, how it would feel to be taken under the Imperius Curse.”

“Blimey.” Draco sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. 

Moody’s magical eye flicked to Draco. “I will be casting the curse on each of you and we’ll see how you fare.” Then, he had the audacity to clap his hand together and look over his class expectantly, as if what he had just said was very normal.

“That’s illegal.” Draco grumbled, almost exhaustedly. 

Mad-Eye turned to Draco. “Dumbledore wants you to learn what it feels like.”

“Oh well if  _ Dumbledore _ thinks so!” Draco sniped sarcastically. “I forgot! We’re all just pawns in Dumbledore’s big game, aren’t we? We’re all just shapeless bits of clay that Dumbledore gets to mould for his own interests, it only takes a few unforgivable curses and two invasions by Voldemort himself and we’ll be in fighting form by fifteen!” 

Harry’s hand was weighty in the small of Draco’s arm and his voice insistent in his ear. “If you’re so angry about this, you can take it up with Dumbledore himself.”

Draco grumbled and shook off his arm, turning to gauge Moody’s reaction in the process. Surprisingly, the Professor didn’t look angry, rather as though something had just dawned on him, and if Draco squinted, he could just about see the ghost of a smile form in the curve of his scarred cheek. 

He turned away and pointed to a Hufflepuff boy who’s name Draco couldn’t quite place. He was brought to the front of the classroom. Moody pointed his wand at him and cast the spell.

“ _ Imperio _ .” 

It was just like the spider from the first class. The boy was flung around the classroom and forced to do fantastic tricks. He seemed to be smiling from ear to ear as he cartwheeled and backflipped off chairs. When the spell was removed he grinned giddily and toddled back to the group. 

More and more people were brought up. Crabbe and Goyle did it, making vain but admittedly admirable attempts at resistance, Susan Bones, some other Hufflepuffs Draco didn’t know, Blaise and Pansy tried to hide themselves but were brought to the front and forced to do and Irish jig and a tango respectively. Millicent did it, with relish, Draco might add. Until finally, Moody decided to poke at Draco’s soft spot, perhaps he was hoping to get another rise out of him.

“Potter.” the Professor snarled. “Up here, it's your turn.” 

Draco glared at Moody as Harry walked up, giving Draco scared looks over the shoulder as he did. But Draco didn’t try to stop it. For some reason, he was filled with morbid fascination for what Moody would do, and how Harry would react. 

The spell was cast… but nothing happened. The class watched on curiously as Harry’s face scrunched up in concentration, but he remained stock still. Then, Harry’s legs seemed to bend and his gaze fixed on the desk, but his movements were slow and jerky, as if he didn’t want himself to do what he was doing. Finally, the spell was ceased and Harry fell headfirst into the desk, smacking his head against it with a painful thud.

Draco rushed over to check for blood and rejoiced when there seemed to be none. 

“What the hell happened?” he asked quietly.

Harry looked up at him. “I don’t know. He kept telling me to jump onto the desk but I didn’t want to so I said no.”

Draco smiled in absolute awe. “You are a marvel, Harry Potter.” He helped him to his feet and they faced the classroom. 

“That’s more like it.” Moody growled. Draco glared at him. “See! He fought! Now, let's run that again, pay attention to his eyes.” 

Draco snorted derisively. “Absolutely bloody not, he’s done it once, you had your fun, let him have a rest.”

Moody surveyed Draco, but his gaze wasn’t hostile. For some reason, it was now appraising, as if he was judging the worth of a vase at an antique shop.

“Fine, let him get back to the group.” he said. 

Oddly enough, Moody never tried to get Draco to go under the curse, not that Draco would have let him, but he never asked. When the class ended, and everyone was filling out, Moody called out for Draco.

“Yes?” replied Draco, with an impatient eyebrow raise.

Moody smirked. “Detention. Here. Thursday at 7pm, I assume that won’t be a problem?” 

Draco’s nose scrunched up in revulsion, but he reasoned with himself,  _ you must have known this was coming _ . “Not a problem at all.”

“Sir.” Moody corrected.

“What?”

“You must address me as ‘Sir’.”

Draco grinned, baring his teeth menacingly. “You’re going to have to work a hell of a lot harder than that to get me to call you ‘Sir’.” He turned around, seeing Harry, Pansy and Blaise lurking by the door. “See you Thursday.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a long day. Happy Monday y'all, here's an update to keep you smiling :)
> 
> Since I enjoy hearing from you guys, I'm gonna ask another question, simply because it is fun. I really like getting that inbox notification and its someone telling me what their animagus would be or what house they're in - its surprisingly interesting!
> 
> Alright, question of the day, if you could go to any of the magical schools in the Harry Potter universe, which would you go to (Hogwarts is a perfectly valid answer)
> 
> I think I'd want to go to Beauxbatons because its so very elegant and the uniforms are gorgeous, but Hogwarts is too awesome to ignore. Maybe I'd spend the first few years at Hogwarts and then be the glamorous, mysterious, Slytherin exchange student from England, that would be very cool.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay quick notes:  
> \- I say this all the time, but I'm tired. If you see any spelling mistakes I miss, I won't be offended if you tell me in the comments, in fact, I'll be grateful. I know you think it might sound rude if you tell me, but I promise you won't, you'll just be doing me a favour.
> 
> \- Secondly, I have cake downstairs, it's not homemade it's that colin the caterpillar cake from m&s but it's really good so if you want a slice tell me a quick story about what you'd do if you were at Hogwarts - even if you're just telling me what your favourite subject would be or what pet you'd have. I wanna hear your stories and I'll give you a metaphorical slice of cake if you do.
> 
> \- Thirdly, hears to the end of lockdown! I see it on the horizon I think. I'm going back to real school tomorrow, I've been in online school since the christmas holidays. I think it's gonna be good, seeing real people again. It's been so long.
> 
> \- Fourthly, I just want to apologise to anybody who is waiting for a sex scene in a later instalment (like in the fifth or sixth book) I just... I don't think I can do it. I tried but it was really difficult and it didn't sound right. If anyone is good at writing sex scenes, I issue an open invitation to try because I seriously don't know how people do it. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks again for sticking with it. Love y'all - have a good week and I hope you enjoy.

The detention with Moody passed without incident, according to Draco, aside from the regular glaring from both parties. All Draco had to do was organise Moody’s library.

“Did you say anything to him again?” Harry asked, as they lay in bed that night, his ear pressed against Draco’s chest.

Draco fiddled with his hair. “No. I decided it wasn’t worth it.” 

“That was mature of you.”

The blond snorted. “And what did you do while I was detained?”

Harry snuggled closer, relishing the feel of Draco’s cotton t-shirt against his skin. 

“Oh, you know…” he began with a sigh. “Pansy and I talked about Viktor Krum’s butt, we both agree that it will be lovely, what with all that exercise he does. And I bet he’s really good with a  _ broom _ too.”

Draco poked him in the side. Harry snickered. 

“You think it’s funny now, but tomorrow I’ll be staring at Viktor Krum’s bum and it will be all your fault.” said Draco.

Harry glared playfully. “How dare you? My bum is far superior.”

Draco flipped Harry onto his back. “Wanna bet?” Their lips collided and they both erupted into quiet moans of pleasure. From the other side of the room there came a tired yell from Blaise.

“Cast a fucking muffling charm!” 

***

The next day, every Hogwarts student was released from their lessons early and sent out to the Black Lake, where they were to await the arrival of the guests. 

They didn’t have to wait long, as the Beauxbatons carriage, being led by a dozen abnormally large horses, flew down from the sky, and the Durmstrang ship rose from the waves. 

The students were welcomed and ushered into the Great Hall, where the feast was served and each school performed a dance, or whatever it was. Harry was enraptured by each performance, the Beauxbatons students were light and fairy-like in their movements and entranced the viewer, but the Durmstrang students were a fascinating, intimidating group who almost scared everyone into paying attention.

When the feast was served, most students from Beauxbatons sat at the Ravenclaw table but a sizeable group sat at Slytherin, near Harry and Draco, very clearly because of their public image. This was the same for most of the Durmstrang students, who squeezed themselves into tight gaps so that everyone could sit and catch a glimpse of the Boy-Who-Lived and his dangerous, Death Eater boyfriend. Not that anybody knew that Harry and Draco were dating, at least it didn’t seem like it, because students from both schools were flirting with Draco brazenly throughout the entire meal.

What seemed like twins, a boy and a girl from Durmstrang, both toyed with his hair and fixed his tie and passed him food, pandering to his every desire with bright, round eyes like puppies. And some kid from Durmstrang, who seemed to be pretty shy, had started making eyes at Draco over the potatoes.

Harry could barely eat as he spent the whole meal glaring daggers at each of these offenders, the angry beats of jealousy roaring in his belly. Draco grabbed his arm under the table and stared at him with soft eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in a hushed tone.

Harry’s nostrils flared. “What’s wrong? Beautiful people keep flirting with my boyfriend, that’s what's wrong!”

Draco’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?” 

“Do you not see it? They’re all over you? Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum over there look like lovesick puppies!” Draco looked even more confused. “It’s a Muggle reference.” Draco nodded.

“Okay, but I’m not getting annoyed at all the people flirting with  _ you _ .”

Harry scoffed. “ _ Who _ ?” 

Draco smirked and nodded in the direction of a Durmstrang girl sitting by Crabbe and Goyle. She was eating the slice of carrot she had on her fork with deliberate slowness and locking eyes with him. He grimaced and turned away. 

Draco grinned. “Feel better now?”

“What? After that?”

“Yeah, do you feel noticed and special?”

Harry sneered. “No.”

“Exactly.” Draco gestured to his fan club with his fork. “All of these people are just interested in me because I’m the bad boy Death Eater son, aren’t I? They don’t know me at all, they just like the idea of me. And that girl over there.” He nodded at the Durmstrang girl who was flirting with Harry. “She just likes that you’re the big hero guy, and it doesn’t hurt that you’re pretty.”

“You’re pretty.”

Draco blushed, the pink staining his porcelain cheeks delicately. “Thank you, but you’re just proving my point. I’m not worried about her because you show no interest in her because she doesn’t know you and you don’t know her. So you don’t need to worry about me.”

“Not even if Viktor Krum shows up?”

Draco’s eyes flashed playfully. “Well, maybe then. All bets are off when Krum shows up.”

***

Later that night, Draco felt that familiar tug of anger and had to dismiss himself from the group to go deal with it. Harry followed, of course, and watched through the barrier as Draco let himself go.

It was majestic, the way that Draco moved when lashed out like this. He was so confident and sure of his movements, and exhibited such raw and unbridled power. Not only did it fill Harry with a warm feeling of pride, but it also made him slightly jealous.

He held his hands up in front of his face, glaring at the fingertips that he still couldn’t fully ignite. He tried once more to produce a flame at the tip of each finger, but he only got to seven when he had to give up.

When he tried to channel the magic, he could feel it thrumming beneath his veins, but there seemed to be some kind of sticky plug blocking the path for the magic to transfer into actual fire.

He closed his eyes and tried again, focusing on moving the plug from it’s position, but he felt eyes on him and he turned around. He saw Draco, flushed from his excursions, leaning against the wall with cool nonchalance. 

“Need help?” he asked. 

Harry shook his head. “You can’t cross the barrier.”

Draco smiled. “I  _ can _ , I just  _ shouldn’t _ .”

“Don’t come over. I trust McGonagall on this one.”

Draco rolled his eyes, a playing smile still tugging at his lips. “Fine, goody-two-shoes, I’ll stay where I am. But I can help you from over here.”

Harry turned to full face him. “Alright. Shoot.”

There was a short stretch of silence as Draco thought. “Do it again.” He instructed. And Harry set about igniting his fingertips. His index finger, then his pinkie, then his middle finger, he was about to continue when Draco stopped him. “I think you’re forcing it.”

“It just feels like it’s stuck. It’s there but it won’t come out.”

Draco nodded sagely. “That’s how it feels for me when I’m not angry. When I’m angry, the barrier or plug or whatever becomes weaker or loosens, letting the magic out. And then it’s the problem of keeping it in.”

“So I should be angry?”

“I don’t know.” Draco sighed. “It’s worth a shot. Try thinking about something you’re really angry about.”

Harry tried again. He thought about those pretty Beauxbatons kids flirting with Draco. He felt the plug move slightly. “I think it’s working!” he exclaimed.

“Great! Keep going!” 

He thought about the articles the Daily Prophet wrote about him, Sirius, Draco and Remus. The plug moved even more. He focused on it, on the hateful words they published every day. But, eventually, the plug stopped moving and stayed stuck in it’s position.

He sighed, letting the magic stop. 

“It’s not working.”

“What were you thinking about?”

“The Prophet, those Beauxbatons kids.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, as he could feel the comings of a headache.

“Well that’s probably why. You’re just thinking about things that annoy you, not make you… angry, really, really angry.”

Harry looked at him. “What makes me angry?”

Draco laughed. “I think you have a plethora of things in your life to make you angry.”

Harry squinted. “Voldemort?”

Draco grinned at him. “You’re getting there. Why don’t you try that?”

Harry grimaced. “Tomorrow maybe? I’m spent.”

Draco nodded and they walked off, away from the shack. On their way back to the common room, Harry slid his hand into Draco’s.

“Why do you think it’s easier for you than it is for me? To get your magic to work, I mean.”

Draco let the question sit with him for a second. “I think it’s got something to do with genetics.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… '' Draco started, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling as they walked. “My ancestors have been dark witches and wizards since medieval times. Any good wizard was exiled. I sort of have a susceptibility for evil and power in my blood. Maybe that just makes it easier for me to submit to it all.”

“But you’re not evil.”

Draco smiled fondly. “I know, I know, and this isn’t some big ‘am I good or am I bad’ debate, it’s just my suspicions. While Remus and Sirius have nurtured me marvelously, as you can tell I’m the perfect model for a human being,” He dramatically displayed his bicep and kissed it with a flourish. Harry giggled. “While they have done a good job raising me, I will always have that evil in my blood. I mean, look at Regulus.”

“Who’s that?”

“Sirius’ brother. He became a Death Eater and went missing, he’s presumed dead. But according to Sirius, he was a good person beneath that, just screwed up by his genetically inherited weakness for evil and domination and the messages he was fed since birth.”

“But Sirius had those messages and he didn’t end up bad.”

“That’s because he had other messages being fed to him too. From your dad and Remus, and Dumbledore too.” 

Harry rubbed his thumb across the back of Draco’s hand. “You say that like my dad, Remus and Dumbledore were brainwashing him the same way his family and Voldemort were.”

Draco shrugged. “We’ve gotten off track. My point is, somewhere in my genetics, without a doubt, is a weakness for evil. But you are nothing but goodness and purity, through your genetics and through you as a person. I think it’d be a fair assumption that Fire chose to inhabit you because you’re powerful and can handle the powers it is giving you, but it didn’t realise how your goodness is strong enough to hold it back.”

Harry swallowed. They were at the door of the Slytherin common room now and Draco was saying the password.

“This is all under the assumption that Fire and Ice are evil?”

Draco made an odd face. “Well, think about it, anger is the only emotion that seems to bring them to life! Surely that can’t be good.”

As Harry drifted to sleep that night he thought about Draco’s words - they interested him. He also thought about his parents, such good and pure influences on the world, and what they would think of him if they knew what kind of evil he was possessed by, and what kind of evil notions he was considering. 


End file.
